Interplanetary network: A brief introduction

Interplanetary Network defines the architecture and protocols necessary to permit inter-operation of the Internet residents or systems on earth/spacecrafts with other remotely located Internet resident/systems on other systems/spacecrafts in transit in the hostile and unpredictable environment of space. Inter-networking in such environment requires new techniques other than traditional communication protocols. This paper focuses on the understanding of the current system and protocols used in Interplanetary communication. This paper is mainly based on the study of different layers of CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) protocol, which is the recommended protocol used by all the Space Communication Organizations including NASA. The resources used for this paper are mainly reports from CCSDS, NASA and JPL. This paper will pave the easier way of studying and understanding of Interplanetary Network. In the CCSDS protocol Stack, Security is shown as a protocol layer. But, the reality is, every layer has its own security concerns. In this paper, we have tried to reflect this idea too.