Title: Interstellar communication. VII. Benchmarking inscribed matter probes,
Abstract: We have explored the optimal frequency of interstellar photon communications
and benchmarked other particles as information carriers in previous papers of
this series. We now compare the latency and bandwidth of sending probes with
inscribed matter. Durability requirements such as shields against dust and
radiation, as well as data duplication, add negligible weight overhead at
velocities <0.2c. Probes may arrive in full, while most of a photon beam is
lost to diffraction. Probes can be more energy efficient per bit, and can have
higher bandwidth, compared to classical communication, unless a photon receiver
is placed in a stellar gravitational lens. The probe's advantage dominates by
order of magnitude for long distances (kpc) and low velocities (<0.1c) at the
cost of higher latency.