The internet — to the stars and beyond

Via KurzweilAI.net — This is just cool.

Interplanetary internet gets permanent home in space

New Scientist Space, July 6, 2009 The interplanetary Internet now has its first permanent node in space, aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It could one day allow data to flow between Earth, spacecraft, and astronauts automatically, using delay-tolerant networking (DTN) to cope with the patchy coverage in space that arises when spacecraft pass behind planets or suffer power outages. NASA aims to have the DTN protocol ready for use on future spacecraft by the end of 2011.   Read Original Article>>

Dark comets …

… sound damn scary.

From KurzweilAI.net —

‘Dark’ comets may pose threat to Earth

New Scientist Space, Feb. 11, 2009 Dark comets may be prowling the solar system, posing a deadly threat to Earth. They are formed when reflective water ice has evaporated away, leaving behind an organic crust that only reflects a small fraction of light.   Read Original Article>>

Galactic internet?

From KurzweilAI.net— Concept for a “galactic internet.” This is pretty wild. The idea is advanced civilizations could possibly pulse “Cepheid variable” stars to encode binary bits.

ET could ‘tickle’ stars to create galactic Internet

New Scientist Space, Sep. 8, 2008Advanced extraterrestrial civilizations may be sending signals through space by pulsing “Cepheid variable” stars to encode binary 0’s and 1’s, new research by University of Hawaii scientists suggests — the galactic equivalent of the Internet.   Read Original Article>>