IP Address space for Outer Space#

Tony Li

• Why: A genuinely novel addressing-policy question: there is no RIR for outer space, and the current ad-hoc practice (space agencies getting resources from their local, geography-based RIR) precludes aggregation on extremely bandwidth-constrained links.
• What: The IETF TIPTOP working group's proposal (draft-li-tiptop-address-space) for one RIR and one address block covering all of outer space, with one prefix each for the Moon, each planet, Lagrange points, and possibly the asteroid belt.
• How: The argument is aggregation economics: space links are modem-class and mission-critical, so per-planet prefixes minimize precious routing overhead; space agencies are generally cooperative (ISS precedent) and expected to interconnect in space. Notably IPv4-first pragmatism — IPv6 header overhead is a serious concern on these links, and a reclaimed /16 might suffice alongside the IPv6 block.
• Where applicable: Niche today, but it's a real IETF work item with ARIN in discussion for the custodian role, and an early signal of how Internet architecture extends into non-terrestrial networks.