Slashdot Mirror
NASA Tests Deep-Space Network Modeled On the Internet
hcg50a writes "NASA has successfully tested the first deep space communications network modeled on the Internet. Working as part of a NASA-wide team, engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, used software called Disruption-Tolerant Networking, or DTN, to transmit dozens of space images to and from a NASA science spacecraft located about 20 million miles from Earth. The store-and-forward protocol was designed by NASA in consultation with Vint Cerf. Here's a discussion from last July before the test began."
This is very exciting, not only because of its utility in space, but because of its utility on Earth as well. Particularly in areas with unreliable internet service, delay-tolerant protocols can be extremely helpful for allowing basic connectivity to the outside world. Consider the choice is having no internet communications at all versus waiting a day or two for your email to travel out of your village, onto the passing truck that is caching data, and into the city where it can proceed through a reliable internet connection. DTN is powerful stuff.
It really kills me when people dismiss developments in space programs as being too far removed (no pun intended) from the rest of us to be relevant.
'Every story, if continued long enough, ends in death.' --Ernest Hemingway
Elebenty of tehm! Running Beowulfs!
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
We already have a working _global_ _worldwide_ _free_ network based on store-and-forward protocols.
It's called FIDONet. It's almost dead now, but it was very alive during early 90-s before the advent of cheap Internet.
Kids...
Deep space my arse! Its just space. We've not even stepped out of our own little planet-moon system yet and we think we want to start using up space-faring superlatives. Morons! Soon the term deep-space will be about as meaningful as artificial intelligence (assuming deep-space was ever a meaningful term in the first place). If this system is for "deep-space" then what will we call a communication protocol that works well between stars?
Anyone in marketing, kill yourself! - Bill Hicks
CLANWARS_PUBLIC#1 LAVAPIT-BIG UDP 56
LOL-GIBBERISHED OH!NOSHIT_ctf UDP 68
PLAYTIME.DOT.UK DM_HOLYGROUNDS UDP 254
FRAGFEST_REDPLANET DM_HELLHOLE UDP 2,139,442
Ping of 2 MILLION? WTF ?!?
With space you have no internet (i.e. road) and TTLs are too high to use the same technology we use here.
You might think so, but it *has* been shown to work. I mean, don't tell me you never heard of the pigeon protocol?