NASA Wants to Form an Interplanetary Internet
NASA Wants to Form an Interplanetary Internet
Posted 07/10/2009 at 4:00pm
| by Paul Lilly
11
Comments
Print
The rocket scientists at NASA hope to have a communications network ready by 2011 capable of efficiently transferring data between Earth and various probes, rovers, and spacecraft whizzing around the solar system, Discovery News reports. As it turns out, creating an interplanetary Internet is no easy task, even for the brainiacs at NASA.
"The communication delays are huge, and they are variable, because the planets are in orbit around the sun," says Vint Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet's TCP/IP protocol.
On the International Space Station, NASA has been performing tests of network technologies called Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocols. Computer scientists -- including Vint Cerf -- began working on DTN as far back as 1998 as a way to overcome issues in networks that lack continuous network connectivity. Whereas it takes just milliseconds for packets to go from source to destination on Earth, those same packets take at least 8 minutes when traveling from Earth to Mars. Not only that, but packets have to contend with constant motion of celestial bodies.
Image Credit: timtim.com
More like this
Caboose
July 14, 2009 at 2:37pm
Next step will be subspace communications! THEN things will really take off eh!
As long as we keep those pesky Vulcans at bay, we'll be fighting the Borg in no time!
In all seriousness though, think about it. Once this is established and perfected, the next logical step is some form of subspace communications which will make talking to someone on the Mars colony or at Jupiter Station as simple as calling a friend on your cell phone. It would then open things up to even faster and more stable telecommunications here on Earth!
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
alanmc76
July 12, 2009 at 6:58pm
Sweet! It's just too bad the Asgard committed mass suicide and blew up their own planet. That would have been totally awesome to play Starcraft II online with Thor and Hermiod. LOL :)
_________________________________________
-- "What am I, MacGyver? Fix it with what?"--
snapple00
July 11, 2009 at 8:15am
But will it have enough bandwidth for a couple hundred people to play Crysis online?
More600
July 11, 2009 at 1:03am
Now can you update the best of the Best section??????????///
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????
smashingpumpin
July 10, 2009 at 8:07pm
why did NASA aim for the year 2011? what happens after the year 2011 anyways? hmm.. sounds scary lolz.
_______________________________________________
he's pwning with a trackpad? oh really? oh reheheheeally?
codepath
July 13, 2009 at 6:38am
They probably want to have this ready for the new vechicle they are building. The space shuttle will be retired by the end of next year and replaced with a new platform.
smashingpumpin
July 12, 2009 at 9:55pm
...that was meant to be rhetoric X . X
_______________________________________________
he's pwning with a trackpad? oh really? oh reheheheeally?
n0ctis
July 10, 2009 at 4:40pm
win!
________________________________________________________________
.: vires et honos :.
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
We introduce Intel's latest class of tablet killers and review 4 of the first Ultra...
Where have all the memorable videogame enemies gone?
This month's issue
Feature
11 Hardware Hacks
Feature
Overclock Your CPU
How-To
Supercharge Your Smartphone
Build It
A Powerful $830 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Analysts: 9-Inch Kindle Fire This Summer http://t.co/QDYApwCZ3 hours 15 min ago
- maximumpc: Micron: DRAM Prices Likely as Low as They're Going to Get http://t.co/fFUWuFOm6 hours 12 min ago
- maximumpc: Yar, Mateys! All Of Pirate Bay Made Available As A Single 90MB Zip File http://t.co/j5LHlXEZ7 hours 26 min ago
