Extraterrestrial Internets. Yes, plural.

[Whirligig Girl]

So if/when there is a permanate human establishment on more planets than just Earth, how will the Internet follow? My best guess is that each planet will have it's own internet, with it's own servers in satellites or on the surface of the various cities on these extraterrestrial bodies. Then you would have to clarrify between eww.en.wikipedia.org and the alternate mww.en.wikipedia.org. mww=Mars Wide Web; eww=Earth Wide Web. Each would sync up every once in a while, probably every time Earth and Mars make a close approach. You'd only be able to access cached versions of the internet from other planets, not the actual connection.

What do you think?

[_Augustus_]

Well, NASA has said they will create Internet access on Mars with a few satellites. It would be slow and around 15 minutes out-of-date, but at least those astronaut bloggers could do their thing.

[Nuke]

and you thought you had lag problems now.

[Brotoro]

Ping time: 900,000 milliseconds

[Stargate525]

The problem with a single connected internet between planets is bandwidth. The only reason we have such good speeds between continents are the massive cables draped across the seabed carrying terabytes of data every minute. Getting that with a satellite connection would be unreasonably difficult. Plus, you'd need to differentiate between pages being fetched from a planetside server (which will load in seconds) and one from another planet (go get a cup of coffee or take that lunch break), if only for user convenience.

Pages, like these forums, would probably have to be downloaded in bulk, else you have a 15-30 minute wait between every page load.

Searches would have to be predictive; run a google search, and you'll probably want the first dozen or so results immediately available as well.

If you have a cached page local, how often does it ping the home planet for an updated version? Do we suddenly have two versions of web pages? One which is pinged regularly for updates used for forums and updating content, and another for articles and slower media, which pushes their updates whenever they occur?

How do we handle bandwidth? For e-mails and downloads, do we send them uncompressed, or sacrifice some more time to squeeze better efficiency from the satellite connection?

[MasterSounis]

I think the largest barrier to an extended web is mostly communal and cultural. For example, even though the Internet does connect anyone with an Internet connection, users mostly gravitate to online communities with similar cultures, interests, languages, levels of humor, and vocabulary. While mass communication would be essential between worlds, the distance would create distinct extraterrestrial communities which would reduce interplanetary communication. Additionallily, early extraterrestrial settlers would be in small enough numbers that necessary bandwidth to earth is more manageable. As these settlers expanded, I would expect to see less communication with earth, as it would drop out of importance in that society. Bandwidth may be less of a problem than it would seem.

[Streetwind]

Gives a new meaning to the phrase "I'm downloading the internet!"

[*Aqua*]

how will the Internet follow?

Excellent question! I guess nobody really thought about that in detail.

Then you would have to clarrify between eww.en.wikipedia.org and the alternate mww.en.wikipedia.org. mww=Mars Wide Web; eww=Earth Wide Web. Each would sync up every once in a while, probably every time Earth and Mars make a close approach. You'd only be able to access cached versions of the internet from other planets, not the actual connection.

WWW is a service. The internet has more services than WWW.

A DNS record usually follows a hierachy:

detail-of-service-zone.service-zone.department-zone.organisation-zone.country-zone(.root-zone)

The root zone doesn't really have a name. It's the top-most zone and there's only one.

In case you've got internets on Mars and Venus, too, you'll have to add planetary zones, again in a lowest-to-highest hierachy (it makes migration easier):

detail-of-service-zone.service-zone.department-zone.organisation-zone.country-zone.planetary-zone(.root-zone)

So expect something like facebook.co.uk.mars and twitter.co.uk.venus.

The only reason we have such good speeds between continents are the massive cables draped across the seabed carrying terabytes of data every minute. Getting that with a satellite connection would be unreasonably difficult.

High-bandwidth connections usually use fiber optics for data transmission using multiple wavelengths in the same cable at the same time. I guess you can do (almost) the same using laser sats to transmit the data from planet to planet. Of course this will be a technological challenge.

Plus, you'd need to differentiate between pages being fetched from a planetside server (which will load in seconds) and one from another planet (go get a cup of coffee or take that lunch break), if only for user convenience.

The DNS covers this already, see above.

Pages [..] would probably have to be downloaded in bulk [...]

Searches would have to be predictive [..]

If you have a cached page local, how often does it ping the home planet for an updated version? Do we suddenly have two versions of web pages? One which is pinged regularly for updates used for forums and updating content, and another for articles and slower media, which pushes their updates whenever they occur?

How do we handle bandwidth? For e-mails and downloads, do we send them uncompressed, or sacrifice some more time to squeeze better efficiency from the satellite connection?

Good remarks and questions! I bet at least a generation of IT professionals will scratch their heads to find solutions for that.

But I guess it won't be that difficult. The internet as it is now can handle low speeds. Timeouts have to be changed though. The standard timeout for a lost connection is mostly set between 30 and 90 seconds.

Databases with mostly static data will sync once in a while like they do on Earth.

On the other hand there is dynamic data, too (like news, forums, etc.). You just have to be aware that the information you'll get can be 20 or more minutes old. You can cache data which is often requested and sync them more often if needed. That's what a lot of internet services already do.

As these settlers expanded, I would expect to see less communication with earth, as it would drop out of importance in that society.

In my opinion the communication between individuals on different planets will lessen but as there are more and more settlers the overall amount will rise.

The lag will give old forms of communications a new rise, like bbs which doesn't need real time bi-directional transmissions. Interplanetary user-centric services (like social networks) will be a hassle and the user will switch to planetary ones. So my guess is the behavior of an internet user will change but not his usage.

[78stonewobble]

The lag will give old forms of communications a new rise, like bbs which doesn't need real time bi-directional transmissions. Interplanetary user-centric services (like social networks) will be a hassle and the user will switch to planetary ones. So my guess is the behavior of an internet user will change but not his usage.

Pretty much what I wanted to say.

Tho ie. 15 minute lag doesn't matter much to ie. facebook, if you discount the chat functions.

[RainDreamer]

So, what kind of communication technology may be developed for interplanetary communication? Can't we send signals with light? Encoded light signals sent from satellites to satellites?

[J.Random]

The only reason we have such good speeds between continents are the massive cables draped across the seabed carrying terabytes of data every minute.

Every second.

So, what kind of communication technology may be developed for interplanetary communication? Can't we send signals with light? Encoded light signals sent from satellites to satellites?

Yes, we do exactly that already, be it fiber optical links or laser transmissions.

[*Aqua*]

We already have laser commuication. The technology just have to be adapted for interplanetary use.

I expect sats with high-powered lasers and receivers and some proxy sats at Lagrange points which re-routes the signals when celestials block the line of sight. I even expect whole armies of private com sats if interplanetary communication can be monetized.

[Tex_NL]

So, what kind of communication technology may be developed for interplanetary communication? Can't we send signals with light? Encoded light signals sent from satellites to satellites?

Radio or laser doesn't really matter. Both travel at the speed of light.

Until mankind develops some FTL communication like subspace or quantum entanglement nothing can be done about the signal delay.

[Nibb31]

Radio or laser signals all travel at the speed of light. Long distance laser communications might provide a higher data rate, but that is still experimental at this stage. The problem is the latency, not the bandwidth. It's already a problem with GEO comsats that are at an altitude of 36000 km. The round trip takes about a second, which makes them unsuitable for full duplex applications.

The theoretical distance between Mars and Earth varies from 50 million to 390 million kilometers, which gives you a latency from 3 minutes to 21 minutes. And of course, when Mars and Earth are occluded by the Sun, then you have a communication blackout, or you would need to relay through another planet, which would give you an even higher latency.

[RainDreamer]

Radio or laser doesn't really matter. Both travel at the speed of light.

Until mankind develops some FTL communication like subspace or quantum entanglement nothing can be done about the signal delay.

Would developing FTL communication technology be any easier than developing an FTL space craft?

[Sirrobert]

Would developing FTL communication technology be any easier than developing an FTL space craft?

Well, traditionally, we have first developed large scale versions of a technology, and that has shrunken over time.

But I don't think that tradition would translate to relative/quantum principles.

I don't know that much about FTL related theory, but what I do know would suggest to me that we'd develop FTL comunications before actual travel

[Tex_NL]

Since no object can travel faster than light I would say no. But communication is not an object, it has no mass. Who knows what will be possible in the future.

You might be interested in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superluminal_communication.

[*Aqua*]

No. Information is bound to energy or mass which both are equivalent. If you can send information with FTL speeds you can do that with a space craft, too.

So far FTL would violate the currently known laws of nature and therefore is considered impossible. I don't expect some sort of unknown 'higher' physics which allow FTL travel.