About the IPN Project

The objective of the Interplanetary Internet project is to define the architecture and protocols necessary to permit interoperation of the Internet resident on Earth with other remotely located internets resident on other planets or spacecraft in transit.

While the Earth's Internet is basically a "network of connected networks", the Interplanetary Internet may therefore be thought of as a "network of disconnected Internets". Inter-working in this environment will require new techniques to be developed.

Many elements of the current terrestrial Internet suite of protocols are expected to be useful in low-delay space environments, such as local operations on and around other planets or within free flying space vehicles. However, the speed-of-light delays, intermittent and unidirectional connectivity, and error-rates characteristic of deep-space communication make their use unfeasible across deep-space distances.

It is also anticipated that the architecture and protocols developed by this project will be useful in many terrestrial environments in which a dependence on real-time interactive communication is either unfeasible or inadvisable.

The IPNSIG exists to allow public participation in the evolution of the Interplanetary Internet. The technical research into how the Earth's Internet may be extended into interplanetary space has been underway for several years as part of an international communications standardization body known as the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems.

The CCSDS organization is primarily concerned with communications standardization for scientific satellites, with a primary focus on the needs of near-term missions. In order to extend this horizon out several decades, and to begin to involve the terrestrial Internet research and engineering communities, a special Interplanetary Internet Study was proposed and subsequently funded in the United States.

The Interplanetary Internet Study is funded by DARPA's Next Generation Internet Initiative, and presently consists of a core team of researchers from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, MITRE Corporation, SPARTA, Global Science & Technology and consulting researchers from USC/ISI, UCLA and CalTech. The primary goal of the study is to investigate how terrestrial internet protocols and techniques may be extended and/or used as-is in the exploration of deep space. The study team has also founded the IPNSIG and has formed the core of an IPNRG under the sponsorship of the Internet Research Task Force.

The primary goal of the NASA IPN Study team will be to act as liaison between the satellite and space communities and the ISOC/IRTF communities. The NASA IPN Study team will assist with requirements and assistance with understanding of the deep space environment and missions, while the primary research on new or modified protocols will be conducted by the IRTF. In addition, the NASA Study Team will also act as liaison with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems.

The NASA Study Team will also enable simulated and actual opportunities to test protocols and the use of Internet techniques in the space environment.