An Australian-based scientist is hoping a trip into space will help him unlock the secret to creating the next generation of glass fibre for transferring data at up to 1,000 times current rates.

Dr Martin Castillo, the technical director of phenomena and microgravity research at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), has been trying for years to transform the special form of glass into usable fibres.

But he says he has been frustrated at every turn.

"I'm looking at a new glass that has a very low attenuation mask ... meaning it can keep its signal for long distances and replace what we're using now, basic copper cable and silica type glass that uses a lot of energy, for repeaters and amplifiers," he said.

"It's not a regular silica glass, it's a fluoride glass, and again if you can make this into a perfect glass sort of structure, then you're able to make longer fibres carry higher bandwidth and be able to transmit data through them and at much larger distances as compared to what we use now.

"So it's actually sort of an energy-efficient sort of product."

Dr Castillo is competing with a handful of people around the world who make the material.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 36 seconds 3 m 36 s Dr Martin Castillo talks to The World Today Download 1.7 MB

He says they are all at a loss but he is confident a trip into space may hold the key to the breakthrough.

"I use a microgravity facility here at QUT and it's a drop tower, where we get 2.1 seconds of microgravity by dropping our experiments within a large tower," he said.

"Then I will go to America and ride the parabolic flight plane - it's a microgravity plane - and you get about 18 seconds of zero G as well as 18 seconds [of] about 1.8 G and I'll be able to conduct experiments aboard that aeroplane and then I will launch it into 2013 aboard a US air force satellite."

Dr Castillo says if he is successful in getting the drawn-out fibres future internet users could enjoy speeds up to 1,000 times higher than are available now.

"So we're also talking about larger bandwidths," he said.

"We're able to send more signals down one single fibre, that increases bandwidth. And then the quality, where it's undisrupted and where it's perfect, you'll have no ... disruptions in your digital signal whatsoever."