Extending the Information Power Grid throughout the Solar System

The Information Power Grid (IPG) is intended to integrate a nationwide network of computers, databases, sensors, and instruments into a seamless whole that appears to be part of a user's personal computer. In other words, with an advanced IPG you could negotiate temporary remote access to all of the computing power, software, specialized instruments, and information that you might otherwise have to buy outright or be nearby to use. This paper discusses extending the IPG beyond our home planet and throughout the solar system. This can provide several advantages. First, the IPG can provide interfaces to current one-of-a-kind solar system exploration spacecraft to help provide a virtual solar system continually available to all. Second, the IPG may help reduce launch costs and failure rates. Third, IPGlike capabilities will be necessary to exploit solar system exploration by the thousands of automated spacecraft enabled by radical reductions in launch costs. Expansion throughout the solar system will require the IPG to handle low bandwidths, long latencies, and intermittent communications which are not requirements for the current Earth-bound IPG. These characteristics of deep space IPG nodes may be hidden from the rest of the IPG by Earth-bound proxies.