QUESTION:
It is often quoted in specialized journals that laser beams - owing to their
inherently lower spreading - are a good candidate for deep-space telecom.
What is your current opinion about this topic? Projects like yours could
probably benefit from the availability of optical data links.

ANSWER from Leif Harcke on July 23, 1997:
Please refer to these two conference papers published by The International
Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE - http://www.spie.org)

H. Hemmati, K. E. Wilson, M. Sue, D. L. Rascoe, F. Lansing, M. D. Wilhelm,
L. Harcke, C. Chen, Y. Feria, J. Layland, J. R. Lesh, "Comparative Study of
Optical and RF Communication System for a Mars Mission: Part II - overall
mass and cost comparisons," SPIE Proceedings, Free-Space Laser Communication
Technologies IX, Vol. 2990, February 1997.

H. Hemmati, K. Wilson, M. Sue, D. Rascoe, F. Lansing, M. Wilhelm, L. Harcke,
and C. Chen, "Comparative Study of Optical and RF Communication Systems for
a Mars Mission," SPIE Proceedings, Free-Space Laser Communication
Technologies VIII, Vol. 2699, pp. 146-164, January 1996.

Leif Harcke
Mars Pathfinder Telecommunications Team