NASA successfully tests first deep space Internet
Washington: US space agency NASA said it has successfully tested the first deep space communications network modelled on the Internet. NASA engineers used a special software called Disruption-Tolerant Networking or DTN to transmit dozens of images to and from a NASA science spacecraft located about 30 million km from the Earth. "This is the first step in creating a totally new space communications capability, an interplanetary Internet," said Adrian Hooke, team leader and manager of space-networking architecture, technology and standards at NASA headquarters in Washington. The DTN sends information using a method that differs from the Internet's Transmission-Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP, communications suite used on the Earth. The Interplanetary Internet must be robust to withstand delays, disruptions and disconnections in space. Glitches can occur when a spacecraft moves behind a planet, or when solar storms and long communications delays happen. Unlike ...