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The Solar System Internet: Envisioning a networked future beyond Earth

As humanity’s ambitions extend beyond Earth—evidenced by NASA’s Artemis program and burgeoning commercial lunar and Martian ventures—the limitations of current space communications are increasingly apparent. Traditional point-to-point links, reliant on scheduled radiofrequency (RF) contacts and specialized protocols, struggle with the challenges of interplanetary distances such as propagation delays exceeding 20 minutes one-way to Mars, frequent line-of-sight disruptions, and asymmetric data rates where uplink capacities can be orders of magnitude lower than downlink. In response, researchers have been working to enable a Solar System Internet (SSI), a visionary architecture leveraging Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) using the Bundle Protocol (BP) to create a standardized, overlay network akin to (but distinct from) the terrestrial Internet.

What is NASA’s Near Space Network, and how will NASA Artemis astronauts stay in touch with Earth?

Communication is the lifeline of any space mission. For the Artemis programme, NASA utilises two distinct systems: the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network.

Managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the Near Space Network connects with spacecraft up to 2 million kilometres away. It uses a mix of commercial and government ground stations to track rockets immediately after liftoff.

When the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifts off, the Near Space Network is the primary link. It captures critical telemetry data and voice comms as the Orion capsule circles Earth before heading to the Moon.

Once Orion pushes away from Earth towards the Moon, communication is handed over to the Deep Space Network. This system is designed to handle signals from distances exceeding 30,000 kilometres, ensuring clarity in deep space.

Astronomers detect a solar system they say should not be possible

An exoplanetary system about 116 light-years from Earth could flip the script on how planets form, according to researchers who discovered it using telescopes from NASA and the European Space Agency, or ESA.

Four planets orbit LHS 1903 — a red dwarf star, the most common type of star in the universe — and are arranged in a peculiar sequence. The innermost planet is rocky, while the next two are gaseous, and then, unexpectedly, the outermost planet is also rocky.

This arrangement contradicts a pattern commonly seen across the galaxy and in our own solar system, where the rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) orbit closer to the sun and the gaseous ones (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) are farther away.

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