[arin-ppml] Addressing for other planets

Fri Feb 20 10:40:07 EST 2026

Hello Daryll, inline:

On 20/2/26 10:42 AM, Daryll Swer wrote:
> I agree with Alejandro's suggested model; this keeps it simple at the 
> allocation level from IANA and simple for aggregating at RIR

Thanks!

> (or whoever is the authority) and simple for celestial-body-type 
> segmentation: /3 for planet-like+moons and /3 for non-planet 
> (asteroids or a small rock large enough for human operations such as 
> 1-month resource mining and then auto-remove assignment as soon as 
> human presence is gone, etc.) – perhaps that old standard "Mobile 
> IPv6", which was never really used in real operations, might also come 
> into play for space networking, enabling the auto-mobility of subnets 
> from one asteroid/rock to another as human operations move that way.
>
> The contention point then becomes:
> What is the prefix length per planet? /10? /11? /16? It has to be 
> large enough for future scaling on the planet but small enough not to 
> cause exhaustion.

Maybe it's time to put together a sort of WG for creating such an 
important IP address plan

> Likewise, prefix length or aggregation for non-planet-type bodies. 
> Perhaps someone can run calculations based on real numbers of 
> celestial bodies to determine the optimal prefix length allocation and 
> sizing for minimised wastage, without introducing IPv4 psychosis into 
> space.
That's a good one.
> Also perhaps it's wise to assume RFC9663 may become widely used for 
> space networking endpoints in the future.

Anything is possible

Count me in—happy to help with this topic

Alejandro,

>  This would greatly impact subnet modelling.
>
> I'd think it's unlikely other planets will have 8.3 billion humans 
> anytime soon, and by the time it happens, we'll probably have moved 
> beyond 128 bits.
>
> *--*
> Best Regards
> Daryll Swer
> Website: daryllswer.com 
> <https://l.shortlink.es/l/491acc4f24e6ad057c5284ee3da28e8f464790a0?u=2153471>
>
>
> On Fri, 20 Feb 2026 at 19:52, Alejandro Acosta 
> <alejandroacostaalamo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     For me, it makes a lot of sense. However, I’d add one more layer:
>     I would suggest a separate `/3` subnet just for planets
>     (unfortunately other planets than earth) and another `/3` for
>     other objects (like asteroids or Pluto, which isn’t actually a
>     planet). Addresses for natural satellites would fall within the
>     address space of their respective planets.”
>
>     Alejandro,
>
>
>     On 20/2/26 9:54 AM, Daryll Swer via ARIN-PPML wrote:
>>     If we create GUA aggregates per planet (like we did on Earth with
>>     2000::/3), should we also create /10s per planet, excluding
>>     Earth? I'm curious to hear what people think we should do for
>>     prefix length allocation to large bodies (planets) and possibly
>>     moons as well.
>>
>>     I don't think we should use 2000::/3 for anything outside Earth's
>>     immediate orbit, maybe the Moon at most. I think a *different* /3
>>     from IANA should be used for space networking. This would allow
>>     clean aggregation per large body (planet or equivalent) and clean
>>     segmentations across RIRs (if we decide RIRs have allocation
>>     authority for space networking).
>>
>>     *--*
>>     Best Regards
>>     Daryll Swer
>>     Website: daryllswer.com
>>     <https://l.shortlink.es/l/19174986ed03cd89016996337141dbbdd6d81d1f?u=2153471>
>>
>>
>>     On Fri, 20 Feb 2026 at 02:32, Tony Li <tony.li at tony.li> wrote:
>>
>>         Hi,
>>
>>         As part of the IETF TIPTOP working group, we are working
>>         towards enabling the Internet in outer space. We would like
>>         to direct your attention to a couple of recent Internet
>>         drafts that may be of interest:
>>
>>         An Architecture for IP in Deep Space
>>         <https://l.shortlink.es/l/1813710a45f7ad72c654d1b8969aabb76b2dbe22?u=2153471>
>>         datatracker.ietf.org
>>         <https://l.shortlink.es/l/f580ac31fc41293e66404782d04f732f152894b7?u=2153471>
>>         	ietf-logo-nor-180.png
>>         <https://l.shortlink.es/l/6ee9737ad750a5813c6b12f219cecf793f629eba?u=2153471>
>>
>>
>>         <https://l.shortlink.es/l/bb3f349606709332df0d907e89aff9dc4b7929e6?u=2153471>
>>         IP Address Space for Outer Space
>>         <https://l.shortlink.es/l/dfcc23dabc86dcb97704246bd5d4021672db38ae?u=2153471>
>>         datatracker.ietf.org
>>         <https://l.shortlink.es/l/bd548e3926b6d9a2b5aa00c5aff588aa31036816?u=2153471>
>>         	ietf-logo-nor-180.png
>>         <https://l.shortlink.es/l/a6be19550bc26f1ed1a4c70512c05f8660594abd?u=2153471>
>>
>>
>>         <https://l.shortlink.es/l/82399640efdcef95edca46fbe1251937a241d506?u=2153471>
>>
>>         The latter has direct implications for the ARIN community,
>>
>>         I would welcome any and all comments.
>>
>>         Regards,
>>         Tony
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         ARIN-PPML
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>>
>>
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>     _______________________________________________
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