NASA scientists say the first tests of what could someday become an outer space Internet have far surpassed their expectations.

"It's been beyond what we expected," said Don Cornwell, the Lunar Laser Communications Mission manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "We obviously expected it would work well, but this is even better... Everything going better than we thought it would. We're running these systems error free."

With the tests already going so well, NASA is encouraged that a laser communications system could be the building blocks of an outer space Internet.

"This is the beginning of that," Cornwell told Computerworld. "I think we could have that with delay tolerant networking. This is the beginning."

NASA's lunar spacecraft, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer or LADEE, has begin a monthlong test of a high data-rate laser communication system.

If the system works as planned, similar laser systems are expected to replace radio systems to speed up future satellite communications as well as deep space communications with robots and human exploration crews.

Using a laser for communications would enable astronauts and robots similar to the Mars rover Curiosity or the lunar orbiter, to send and receive far greater data loads, whether they're in orbit around Earth, on the moon or a distant asteroid.

Space exploration is largely about the data. Rovers and astronauts are expected to take measurements, photos and video of distant planets and asteroids. However, if there's a data bottleneck and they can't get that information back to scientists on Earth, the entire mission could be crippled.

The large pipe that laser communications give NASA scientists will become increasingly important as explorations travel farther from Earth.

Cornwell said LADEE ran its first laser test on Oct. 17 and has since run three more. And so far, the communications link-up has worked perfectly every time.

Original post:

NASA says first space Internet test 'beyond expectations'