US military to launch WiFi router into space

The mysterious expanses of space have been seeing quite a lot of action lately, but rather than watching a couple of autonomous crafts tackle tasks for kicks, the US military is hoping to set their next router right beside a constellation. Partnering with Intelsat and Cisco Systems, the US Department of Defense is hoping "to test an internet router in space in hopes of benefiting civilian broadband satellite communications." Additionally, the Internet Routing In Space (IRIS) project aims to assist in all sorts of "military communications," as it routes IP traffic between space-bound sats and cuts down on the time required to divvy out information. As expected, voice, video, and data will all be supported, and once the three-year initiative is complete, "the technology will be available for commercial use" -- you know, in case you're looking to relocated your networking gear to the Black Hole.

[ZRX @ Apr 12th 2007 6:16PM]

Torrent servers in orbit ?

[Andune @ Apr 12th 2007 6:25PM]

@ZRX
NASA joins RIAA to fight piracy in space!

On the subject:
Will be nice to see what this brings us "normal" users.

[Chris @ Apr 12th 2007 6:24PM]

Hey, thats a Cisco 871W...I got one of those...sexy

[fearless @ Apr 12th 2007 6:24PM]

Good idea for space exploration, Not even aliens can resist the call of free Wifi.

[Teo @ Apr 12th 2007 6:35PM]

reminds me of a great book:
http://www.accelerando.org/

[TIMMAH! @ Apr 12th 2007 6:54PM]

I hope they change the router default settings...

SSID: Satellite ...

[Keaton @ Apr 12th 2007 6:56PM]

Naw, they will probably leave it "Netgear"... *CoughCough* I mean Linksys...

[Chris Anderson @ Apr 12th 2007 6:55PM]

i wonder what kind of signal decay you'd experience in space?? we should get rid of our crummy ozone layer...my D-Link router would DEFINITELY reach across the house...

[Richard Lai @ Apr 12th 2007 6:58PM]

Gotta put on the WPA encryption to make sure the aliens don't steal our bandwidth!

Heh, they're gonna love us when they manage to download a copy of the game "Area 51". Hopefully they'll struggle with installing Vista in the first place.

[rodan32 @ Apr 12th 2007 7:12PM]

I'm only heading to the black hole if that cool robot Maximilian will be my loyal servant.

[ssuk @ Apr 12th 2007 7:33PM]

It's a long way to go to reset the router when it overheats and packs up.

[KC @ Apr 12th 2007 7:41PM]

Isn't going to cause global warming with the heat those Cisco routers put out?

[KC @ Apr 12th 2007 7:42PM]

Isn't **it** going to...

[James @ Apr 12th 2007 9:27PM]

It is another attempt by La Fonera to kill Starbucks hotspots!

[Chad Nelson @ Apr 12th 2007 10:09PM]

It is not WiFi, but still sweet. Wardriving in space?

[tyecies @ Apr 13th 2007 4:58AM]

dammit the connection blinked. whose turn is it to go reset the router again?

[Evan A. @ Apr 13th 2007 4:28PM]

This is for Starbucks on the Moon.

Hey God needs WiFi too. :)