InterPlanetary Networking will require an entire networking communications system: networking protocols to handle signal delay and connectivity disruption; aerospace engineering to create space-borne networking platforms, and cognitive sciences research to create platforms smart enough to protect themselves against natural and human threats.
Above is an artist’s concept of a simple interplanetary communications system, linking NASA’s Deep Space Network (three arrays of 70m. antennae located in California, Spain and Australia), communications satellites orbiting Mars, and various probes on the surface of the planet. Disruption & Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocols are used for the red-dotted data flows. TCP/IP or other low latency protocols are the yellow and blue-dotted data flows.