Deep Space Internet Setup......and Working
NASA has succesfully tested a special 'Disruption-Tolerant-Internet-System' to a Node over 20 million miles from Earth.
"The first step in creating a totally new space communications capability, an Interplanetary Internet," That will be used by all future space craft.
The DTN sends information using a method that differs from the normal Internet's Transmission-Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP.
In that it is robust enough to tolerate long disruptions, by Space Storms, or when the Node moves behind other Planets or Meteors.
Unlike TCP/IP on Earth, the DTN does not assume a continuous end-to-end connection. If a destination path cannot be found, the data packets are not discarded. Instead, each network node keeps the information as long as necessary until it can communicate safely with another node, however long that may be.
It will also ensure reliable communications for astronauts on the surface of the Moon, or Mars.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/nov/HQ_08-298_Deep_space_internet.html
