| The Defense Dept. plans to put a router in space by 2009 to allow troops to access voice, data and video over IP. Eventually DoD's Iris project could allow satellites to send data directly between each other, instead of sending it via ground stations. IRIS (Internet Router Protocol in Space)
Representing the next generation of space-based communications, IRIS will serve as a computer processor in the sky, merging communications being received on various frequency bands and transmitting them to multiple users based on data instructions embedded in the uplink.
Potential nonmilitary benefits of the IRIS program include the ability to route IP (Internet Protocol) traffic between satellites in space in much the same way packets are moved on the ground, reducing delays, saving on capacity and offering greater networking flexibility, Lloyd Wood, space initiatives manager in the Global Defense, Space & Security division of Cisco, said Thursday.
You save on delays and capacity by not having to go back to the ground," said Wood. "And once you have smarter satellites, you can treat them as not completely separate but as part of your IP network and manage them as you do your IP networking assets on the ground. They become fully integrated with your terrestrial network, allowing you to take advantage of existing management tools and also decrease the number of ground stations. (VIA)  Forgive me but if this doesn't sound like the opening screen from one of the Terminator movies. We inter-connect all of the satellites to themselves. And form some sort of OUTERNET. Now while it makes a lot of sense to me to be able to have reasonable and reliable communications protocols and abilities between machinery that we have circling the earth many miles above. And those machines not having to communicate back to earth then out to space again to get any kind of work done. What happens if they are hacked for instance? Folks like to believe that the portions of the Internet that are connected to various government systems are rock solid and beyond compromise I would not be so sure that this is the case. And tell me would you really want all of those satellites directly connected to the Internet where there are literally thousands of unemployed and bored individuals with nothing but time on there hands trying to get a little peek at what kind of pictures one of those babies could provide? Labels: Editorial
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