A new system deployed by NASA is expected to help the development of an interplanatery space communications system that functions much like the Internet does on Earth.
NASA installed software on the International Space Station to make communication faster and easier, and it is expected to lead to an Internet system that may cover the entire solar system in the future, the agency announced.
The new communications protocol, called Disruption Tolerant Networking, added this month to the ISS's Telescience Resource Kit, is the agency's first step toward interplanetary Internet, according to a description of the project.
On Earth, information is spread over the Internet through a series of nodes, or communication points, which must be clear and available for information to transmit from one point to another. In space, however, these nodes often are not lined up because of movement.
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