Next-generation satellite constellations are delivering unprecedented global broadband coverage with performance increasingly comparable to terrestrial networks. As these systems expand in scale and capability, their future growth will depend on effective interoperability with other satellite- and terrestrial networks, treated as interconnected autonomous systems. This raises the need for efficient inter-domain routing beyond today’s predominantly ground-based architecture.
Currently, interconnection between domains occurs almost exclusively at terrestrial Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). Even satellite constellations equipped with inter-satellite links therefore function mainly as extensions of terrestrial networks, rather than as independent routing domains. While this model benefits from mature ground infrastructure, it limits opportunities to optimise latency, resilience, and data locality at a global level.
STARS is a study about how these gateway routing protocols, the glue that binds the Internet together, can be adapted to handle the growing space constellations of high-bandwidth satellites. Today, these constellations provide connections from terrestrial terminals to ground stations, but not necessarily between constellations.
What STARS aims to do is to apply the knowledge we have learned from ARPANET and later the massive network of networks colloquially known as “the Internet”, to connect these constellations together in space. The goal is to let terrestrial and space networks converge and become a larger Internet.
This opens several opportunities
- Emergency networks can seamlessly be re-routed through space in the case of natural disasters that sever links or removes routing nodes on the ground.
- Maritime, offshore, and remote stations can seamlessly connect to the Internet as if it were any other internet service provider.
- Long distance traffic can reduce signal transmission delay significantly by going through a space link.
- The coming industrialization of space is dependent upon a robust and pervasive connection to the Internet from space.
And this is only the beginning. As was the case with the Internet, once the infrastructure is in place, human ingenuity will use, repurpose and re-imagine what we build today, into something wonderful and exciting tomorrow.
As the prime contractor for this project, SINTEF stands at the cusp of the space revolution and is poised to influence and shape the next generation of the Internet which will affect all of us for years to come.