WebProNews

Astronauts would never again be without Google.  But that’s just one of the benefits that could come from expanding the Internet into space, which is where Vint Cerf says it’s going to go.

“This effort is now bearing fruit and is on track to be space qualified and standardized in the 2010 time frame,” he said at a conference.  Google’s Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, who is also known as one of the founding fathers of the Internet, may soon deserve even more titles; he later continued, “Eventually we will accumulate an interplanetary backbone to assist robotic and manned missions with robust communication.”

Does anybody else foresee a space shuttle named “Cerf”?  Or perhaps a “.cerf” top-level domain name - according to the AFP, the man spoke of an endeavor to expand the current system, as well, and “said ICANN, which manages domain names and addresses, was preparing to launch a new format accommodating 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses.”

Still, a space-worthy Internet seems to be the more interesting project.  Also, even if Cerf was speaking as an independent thinker, it seems likely that Google would be closely involved with any advancements; from buying a SpaceShipOne replica to creating the Google Lunar X Prize, the search giant has always shown an interest in extraterrestrial matters.