Interplanetary internet proposed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer

We'll admit, we were admittedly metagrabolised after hearing that the US military wanted to launch a router into space, but now clarity is upon us. According to Vinton Cerf and a team of diligent engineers at the California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory, standards for space communications could be established in just three short years, meaning that an "interplanetary internet" could be just around the bend. Cerf reckons that such a system would allow Earthlings to "access information and to control experiments taking place far away" from our planet, and in the distant future, there could even be an "interplanetary backbone [erected] to assist robotic and manned missions with robust communication." And while there's no mention of setting up galactic ISPs, we're pretty certain that lonely Martians would pay a pretty penny for quasi-reliable broadband access.

[Via TGDaily]

[paragraph @ Oct 17th 2007 2:51PM]

Here's a novel idea... why not get internet on our own planet before we try to get it on others we don't even go to?

Seriously, i'd more appreciate global WiFi than interstellar WiFi

[Nick Waringa @ Oct 17th 2007 2:54PM]

I'd more appreciate broadband that doesn't cry to mama under load.

[Irwin @ Oct 17th 2007 3:44PM]

global Wi-Fi would be pretty expensive and a huge network to monitor..

i guess it would be better to have localized Wi-Fi, but generaly, u can access Wi-Fi whereever you are, thatd be AWEOMSE

but imagine the h4z0rz!!1!thats a lot of damage someone could do..i dont have the slightest clue how public networks nowa days are protected by hackers anyway. someone fill me in

[G-MaN 202 @ Oct 17th 2007 2:53PM]

awesome

[AL @ Oct 17th 2007 2:56PM]

Hmm - martian porn?

[Typhoid Mary @ Oct 17th 2007 3:01PM]

What? Hacking in outer space soon?

Sweeeeeeeet!

I GOT ROOT! IN SPACE, biatch!

[Jagannath A @ Oct 18th 2007 2:56AM]

hahaha ROFL

[mike_alsept @ Oct 17th 2007 3:02PM]

Your halo 3 games are going to suffer from real bad ping times.

[Jean-Michel Decombe @ Oct 17th 2007 3:06PM]

I'm getting in line to snatch engadget.jup, engadget.sat, engadget.plu, and the rest of 'em before you guys do :::evil laugh:::

[Chris McDannold @ Oct 17th 2007 4:20PM]

Your domain for Pluto is wrong. We only have 8 "real" planets now. Pluto is a dwarf. That domain will be engadget.dw.plu. It is all a bit confusing, but you can thanks the jackasses at American Museum of Natural History for pulling the trigger at the educational level.

In other news, California has declared itself a subcontinent to further its goal of world assimilation. The new land mass is to be known as "America the Blue" to attract all bleeding hearts and extreme liberal leaders to consume the Kool-Aid at matriculation events.

[zabador @ Oct 17th 2007 3:09PM]

Why are we connecting interplanetary body's to the internet when we don't have enough IP addresses for whats on this one? GIVE US TCP/IP v6!

[Eddie @ Oct 17th 2007 3:24PM]

Remember, just because it SAYS it's a 400 year old Martian doesn't mean it's ACTUALLY a 400 year old Martian. Always use precaution when meeting someone you met on the outer-spacenet!

[Starvine @ Oct 17th 2007 5:35PM]

"I'm Chris Hanson with DateLine NBC Earth...you flew HOW FAR to seduce an 8-year old??"

[octoberasian @ Oct 18th 2007 2:53AM]

Best. Comment. Ever!

This puts internet predators on a whole new level...

[LJKelley @ Oct 17th 2007 3:37PM]

And I thought there were enough weirdos on the internet now...

[Klaus Burton @ Oct 17th 2007 3:51PM]

Actual photo

[Sophie @ Oct 17th 2007 5:43PM]

Yeah really...lame stock image+lame stock image=just plain depressing image

[Nick @ Oct 17th 2007 4:17PM]

Awesome, I guess now is the perfect time to start snatching up all the cool domains associated with this....

Honestly though, I don't see how colonists on Mars could have any semblance of the "internet" we love to hate down on this lonely globe. That kind of latency could KILL someone.

That, and the little problem with Mars and Earth not orbitting our star at the same speed so we wouldn't always be aligned for ideal communication......unless we're rigging repeating stations ALL AROUND Mars' orbital path to relay a Martian colonist's WoW raid all the way back to the west coast server....

On second thought, will some enlightened alien race please blow us away now and save the rest of the universe from the internet????

[Nith @ Oct 17th 2007 4:18PM]

Wouldn't it be funny if the first form of alien communication came in the form of spam.

From: [e-mail]
To: _All_of_Earth
Sunbect: Make you spaceship bigger and last longer in just 8 light weeks!

[Chris McDannold @ Oct 17th 2007 4:29PM]

Would it be improper to have StarCraft be the first game played over the Interplanetary Internet? Will Prodigy and CompuServe come back from the grave to be the first IISPs? Did Al Gore invent this too?

[Quinn @ Oct 17th 2007 4:48PM]

Oh come on. The lag here is going to be horrible. Get ready to hear the longest echos between Interplanfone services & interplanternet VoIP services.

[Slvrgun @ Oct 17th 2007 6:12PM]

These people have absolutely no idea of what is going on in the world. With all our damn problems, they want to put the internet in space. Meanwhile, people are out there still using dial-up.

[tnkgrl @ Oct 17th 2007 6:28PM]

Best comment thread ever.

[Ron Smith @ Oct 17th 2007 6:31PM]

all right people lets make one thing clear, internet is not the world wide web. Nasa currently uses the TCP/IP that all computers use to connect to the web. The difference is that NASA uses this over a space-based network that is broadcast from ground stations and the TDRSS network of satellites orbiting the earth. You cannot access the web from space, you can only connect with the computers linked to the dish on the ground or communicate with another craft in space. Honestly, it is more like a network than linked on the worldwide web. I believe the military does the same thing, as in using internet protocol but not on the world-wide web.

[Eldiablo @ Oct 17th 2007 6:41PM]

So, whats the bandwidth allowance? Are they gonna throttle/shape the traffic at certain times. I don't fancy having to wait for a galactic year until my allowance gets reset. And if we start sticking the internet throughout the universe, doesn't that make IPv6 look a little 'limited'?

[Randy @ Oct 18th 2007 9:35AM]

One IPv6 address per planet, and then NAT from there. We'd still run out addresses though just not as fast...

[don @ Oct 17th 2007 7:32PM]

Hope they don't use my router....it doesn't work from the office to the living room. (we can reach the stars...but my living room is inaccessible to wifi)

[culbeda @ Oct 17th 2007 8:58PM]

If we can pull that off, shouldn't we be able to get global pings down to something under 100ms? (Hell, I've got clients with two offices in the same state with over 100ms between them. (And they're both on Qwest! Or how about unlimited access that doesn't require quotes around the word "unlimited"?

But if the brave men and women on the ISS need porn, who am I to deny them?

[octoberasian @ Oct 17th 2007 9:54PM]

ET phone home!

er... wait...

*ahem* correction...

ET e-mail/IM/skype home!

[Scott @ Oct 18th 2007 12:35AM]

Not sure if its the exact same thing but a similar document was posted on how stuff works some time ago...

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/interplanetary-internet.htm

[dotyer @ Oct 18th 2007 1:29AM]

Well, access to Google and Facebook in space is probably on the top of the "importance list" for NASA.

[RedBull Runner @ Oct 18th 2007 5:42AM]

Uhm... ted?

ya?

uhh... Did you write down the encryption key?

no... I thought you did!

oh... crap...

[teej @ Oct 18th 2007 2:15PM]

they're not going to 'loose' it in 3 years?!

[Kibi @ Oct 21st 2007 10:55AM]

Crypto: 0
As-Received-By: OOB shipboard ad hoc
Language-Path: Arbwyth->Trade 24->Cherguelen->Triskweline, SjK units
From: Twirlip of the Mists
Subject: Blighter Video thread
Keywords: Hexapodia as the key insight
Distribution: Threat of the Blight
Approved: yes
Date: 8.68 days since Fall of Relay

I haven't had a chance to see the famous video from
Straumli Realm, except as an evocation. (My only
gateway onto the Net is very expensive.) Is it true
that humans have six legs? I wasn't sure from the
evocation. If these humans have three pairs of legs,
then I think there is an easy explanation for
--MORE--

[mars @ Oct 29th 2007 9:02PM]

Ahaha.. Can't wait till our boxes start getting pwned by aliens! I wonder if they play counterstrike?

[KGB @ Mar 16th 2008 3:25PM]

Its about time, i always wanted to get me some alien pr0n.