The very first conception of what would eventually become the internet may have been a series of memos written by an MIT computer scientist named J.C.R. Licklider in August 1962. In them, he described a “galactic network”, where anyone could access data and programs from any location in the universe.

Licklider went on to become the first head of the computer research program at DARPA, where he convinced his successors of the importance of networking. The result of their work is what you’re staring at right now — a network where anyone can access data and programs from any location in the world.

But so far the internet has been mostly limited to the surface of Earth. Realising Licklider’s vision of expanding that network into the heavens is difficult for several reasons.

Laaaaaaag

The first is lag. On Earth, the distances we communicate over are pretty small, galactically speaking. Our signals travel at the speed of light, meaning they can get from Britain to Australia in 50 milliseconds. But to get to our nearest planetary neighbour, Mars, it takes between three and twenty-two minutes depending on the orbits of both planets.

That’s not too bad if you’re a research scientist working on a rover. But if you’re trying to play Counterstrike with some Martians, you’re going to have significant difficulties. In fact, the way that the internet is currently built — over TCP links — won’t really function at all with those delays.

Instead, researchers are working on different kinds of delay-tolerant networks. Traditional networks work by establishing a route and then sending the data down it. Delay-tolerant networks take a more forgiving approach, storing data at points along the way and then sending it onward when a connection can be established to the next node.

That means slow transmission, of course, as satellites go around the backsides of planets and the pesky Sun gets in the way. But the information does end up intact at its destination, eventually.

If all that is tough to imagine, picture a football game. Right now, we’re trying to score goals by hoofing the ball from our own goal line. That works when there aren’t any other players on the pitch. But when there are, it’s more useful to pass it to a defender, who passes it to a midfielder, who crosses it into the box where it’s headed home.

Few beta testers

The second problem is that we don’t have anyone on the other end to receive the data yet. The furthest permanent outpost humanity has managed is the International Space Station in Earth’s orbit, which is connected to the regular internet.