/*
* [...] Note that 120 sec is defined in the protocol as the maximum
* possible RTT. I guess we'll have to use something other than TCP
* to talk to the University of Mars.
* PAWS allows us longer timeouts and large windows, so once implemented
* ftp to mars will work nicely.
*/This is correct. At their furthest apart, Mars and Earth are 22 light minutes apart. Their closest is almost exactly 3 light minutes. For comparison, the Earth and Moon are just over 1 light second apart.
On a more serious note, could tcp.c just be patched on the client to drop packets after ~10sec?
The International Space Station still uses Kermit! At least they did in 2003:
While I don't know that we can fairly say the Internet qua Internet has been extended past Earth (and associated environs), NASA certainly uses a Solar System-scale network already, and while they haven't made a big deal about some of the routing they've already done, if you read the press releases carefully they'll sometimes mention how they routed the signal from one probe through another. It's already a network.