Satmet

Synchronous Array of Tachyon-Modulating Energetic Transmitters.

Sometimes called tachyon transmitters, satmets are immense devices, consuming vast quantities of power in order to generate a measureable flux across lines of effect stretching at least across Solar System, and possibly the entire Milky Way. The nature of the tachyon interference can also be changed, allowing them to become powerful weapons should the need arise, though mobius patterns are proof against this effect. As weapons, they are called tachyon cannons. Listening devices are consumer equipment, usually called tradios, though they are not entirely necessary.

There are two important limitations of satmets.

1. The power required to generate a signal is immense. A single blip requires some two gigajoules of energy at 100% efficiency. Transmitting a single voice without compression in real-time requires a petawatt of energy. All three satmets currently consume in excess of a hundred exawatts in transmitting their lines. This would not even be remotely possible without extensive research into exotics or the discovery of the mobius patterns.
2. Tachyons have a line of effect - they do not radially propogate, although their interference can be measured from some distance away. To get around this, transmitters instead perform a trick similar to that of the tachyon cannon, and instead of being used as a weapon, they turn the fabric of space into a ten parsec long radio transmitter. Longer is possible, but there is still a concern that 'other intelligences' may be out there, and humanity is less interested in announcing its presence than it used to be.

There are three satmet assemblies in the Solar System. None of these transmit visual or even voice signals on a regular basis, almost all data is compressed text. Voices, and in some cases actual visuals, are reconstructed on the 'client' end using information previously transmitted the 'slow' way.

Ouranos Prime is the first, originally constructed both for the defense of the refugees that make up the station, and to provide an unjammable means of communication with the rest of the system. Activated in 2203, it became infamous for enacting the Jovian Massacre that same year.

The Ares Cannon was the second such device brought on-line, in 2205. Initially functioning solely as a tachyon cannon, in an attempt to destroy its predecessor, it failed miserably. It was then converted into a 'normal' satmet by the end of the year, though it is still fully capable of acting as a weapon. It rests at the L1 Lagrange point of Mars.

Dalsat was constructed primarily by a Korean interest in 2206, and has since become the prime such device for Earth and Luna. Resting at the Moon's L2 Lagrange point, it is not yet capable of weaponized function, though progress is slowly underway to add the capability.