Networking is an infrastructure technology; it is a tool for NASA to support its space and aeronautics missions. Some of NASA's networking problems are shared by the commercial and/or military communities, and can be solved by working with these communities. However, some of NASA's networking problems are unique and will not be addressed by these other communities. Individual characteristics of NASA's space-mission networking environment are examined, the combination of all these characteristics that distinguish NASA's networking systems from either commercial or military systems is explained, and some research areas that are important for NASA to pursue are outlined.
