Following reports that the military wants to create a celestial hotspot for space based internet access, scientists and engineers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena have studied the idea and reported back that standards for creating a so-called interplanetary internet could be established within a few short years. If adopted, the standards could drastically update the NASA Deep Space Network communications – which was developed over forty years ago for the Apollo lunar program and for JPLs robotic missions throughout our solar system. Supported by Google and iCann Vinton Cerf, the idea will be to provide greater communication access and support for long distance robotic, and human based space missions.

The Internet, initially the project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a means of maintaining reliable military communications in the event of a nuclear war. It has since grown into a must have civilian web of information access and communication. As we make the move towards establishing a human presence on Mars and beyond, the need to maintain not only mission critical communications, but also private communications from astronauts to families they are long cut off from makes the program particularly important. Not to mention their entertainment value. It would simply be too cruel to cut an astronaut off from downloading their iTunes.