The InterPlanetary Internet - Redefining Ubiquity

October 31, 2007 by krisdhingra
Filed under Tech

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Merriam Webster defines the term “ubiquity” as something that is “present everywhere or in many places simultaneously“, in other words its a synonym for omnipresence. However, how exactly would you define the range of omnipresence: is it confined to a city, a state, a country or perhaps the whole world. The internet is said to be ubiquitous because it can be accessed from virtually any part of the world, God is said to be omnipresent because he too is supposedly present at every spot on the planet. As no known humans have really set foot on any other planet in the universe, it is safe to assume that anything that is omnipresent is present throughout the world.

Well, think again, because if Vint Cerf and Adrian Hooke have their way you could soon be reading DelhiPlanet from your capsule on the moon or at your hotel on mars. Vinton Gray Cerf an American computer scientist who is commonly referred to as one of the “founding fathers of the Internet“, these days is deep into a project to move the Net into outer space, a project known as The InterPlanetary Internet.

The Interplanetary Internet(IPN), as presently conceived, is a set of floating nodes in space which can communicate with each other. Because of the large speed of light delays involved with interplanetary distances, the IPN needs a new set of protocols and technology that are tolerant to large delays. Cerf, is closely involved with a small team of engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to create a wireless communications network that would let all space-based machines and - eventually - astronauts talk to one another. For example, rovers confined to a planet’s surface could use a common standard to exchange data with spacecraft from other missions whizzing by. IPN calls for space probes and satellites to serve as Net gateways, conveying data packets to and from Earth and among themselves.

And that’s not all, Cerf even envisions that this interplanetary backbone would plugin into our own terrestrial Net. Students would be able to log on to watch a webcam-equipped rover tour the Martian landscape while Astronauts could send and receive email and download music or movies. The internet would then, exist not only on earth but in space as well, thus becoming truly ubiquitous.

So while Vint Cerf and his team go about creating a truly out of this world system, we can start thinking on the kind of content that would power our .mars domain, because we wouldn’t want to annoy the little green men there or as some other people envision it Martian Manhunters who are by no stretch of imagination little.

Tags: space, internet, planets, mars, moon, web, cerf, google, ICANN, .com

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