Google's Android does a lot more these days than just smart phones and nifty mobile gadgets. An Internet pioneer is using the platform to launch a interplanetary Internet protocol on Earth that could harden wireless networks against delays in data transmission.

Vint Cerf worked with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the TCP/IP protocol that all netizens rely upon today, and tried adapting the old reliable for NASA's interplanetary communications with distant spacecraft. But complicating issues such as planetary rotation and the long distances involved -- 40 minutes roundtrip for data traveling at light speed between Earth and Mars -- led Cerf to design a new Internet protocol that does not require a continuous connection.