Scientists claim interplanetary Internet is on the way

Mountain View (CA) - A team of engineers at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory says standards for widespread space communications will be ready within three years.

Google vice president and ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) chair Vinton Cerf is one of the people pushing for the galactic system.

"Finally, the Internet can take us where no network has gone before," said Cerf in a press conference, according to an Associated Press quote. "This effort is now bearing fruit and is on track to be space qualified and standardized in the 2010 time frame."

Cerf is working with a group of scientists at the Jet Propulsion Lab, says the initial purpose will be for greater communication in government projects. "Eventually we will accumulate an interplanetary backbone to assist robotic and manned missions with robust communication," he said.

Cerf also talked about the state of ICANN standards, saying that by early next year he expects users in Japan, Russia, and other countries will be able to create domain addresses in their native language. "Sometime in the first half of 2008, I expect, there will be opportunities to register IDNs using different languages other than Latin," he said.