From Cyberspace to Outer Space?

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Oct 2, 2000

What kind of work goes on at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA? We could tell you but, next thing you know, the Men in Black would be at your door. Well, they'll provide an interesting contrast to the Kids in Pink selling scout cookies, eh? So here goes. The agency is working on how to set up an interplanetary Internet. "It's not something that's going to happen in the next three or four years," project officer Mari Maeda told American Forces Press Service, "but it's something we need to start to think about. It will definitely be a real issue in the next 20 years."

Meanwhile, DARPA is working on speeding up the earthbound Internet. The agency's researchers are working on hardware and software that will make downloading up to 1,000 times faster than it is for most users today. "Once we have this new technology in place," Maeda said, "and as the Internet evolves, we will be able to do all sorts of things that are just outside the realm of our imagination today."

Though the possibilities are unknown, an example of the benefits of dramatically increased speed might be that doctors could share X-rays in real time, Maeda said. She also said the United States leads the way in such developments at the moment but will not continue to do so without more money for research. Sorry, Maeda, maybe next year. We just sent our last spare billion dollars to Colombia for bombs and guns to create peace and justice.