14 DAY TRIAL // The Internet has connected our planet like nothing else before it. A third of the people on Earth have access to the Internet. In the next decade, that number will at least double.
There are many challenges to bringing the Internet to all the corners of the world, but they're nothing compared to those of bringing it to other planets.
But people are already working on it. In fact, one version of the Internet, or rather of an interplanetary network, is already out there.
Google's Chief Internet Evangelist and Internet pioneer Vint Cerf explained how the interplanetary Internet works.
Vint Cerf invented TCP/IP, the protocol that underlines Internet communications. But TCP/IP is a poor choice for long distance and big latency communications like those between planets.
Instead, a new suite of protocols was developed, dubbed the Bundle protocols. The big difference compared to TCP/IP is that packets aren't discarded if their destination can't be reached. Instead, they are stored at every node until they can be passed along towards their destination.
Radio communications travel at the speed of light, but even the speed of light is slow when compared to the vastness of space. It can take up to 20 minutes for a signal to reach Mars, which means it may take 40 minutes to get a response.
Another problem is that the probe or rover you're trying to reach may be hidden on the far side of a planet or behind the sun, hindering communications. This is why all the packets must be stored to be sent as soon as communications become possible again.
This isn't just theoretical; the protocols are already in use. NASA's Deep Space Network, which handles communications with all of NASA's missions beyond Earth, supports and uses the protocols.
The International Space Station also has several nodes that support the protocol and are part of the interplanetary Internet.
NASA's two Mars orbiters, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Odyssey, support a prototype version of the software. The two Mars rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity also use the protocol.
There are also plans to expand the network and, since it's an open standard, the hope is that other space agencies will adopt it, and there is already progress on that front.