Tropos's equipment tested by NASA as an idea for manned Mars missions: Next thing you know, there will be a Mars Communications Commission (MCC) insisting that a single newspaper and television station could provide all the news on the Red Planet.
Mesh wireless equipment makes sense for the terrain and goals of the mission. Will the low pressures affect signal transmission? And then there's hardening against radiation and temperature. I guess we have 20 to 40 years to figure it all out.