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NASA Taking Ethernet Into Deeper Space

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the once-i-took-it-into-my-bathroom dept.

coondoggie writes "While Ethernet technology has gone places no one would have envisioned 36 years ago, NASA today signed an agreement with a German Ethernet vendor to build highly fault-tolerant networks for space-based applications. TTTech builds a set of time-triggered services called TTEthernet that is implemented on top of standard IEEE802.3 Ethernet. Its technology is designed to enable design of synchronous, highly dependable embedded computing and networking, capable of tolerating multiple faults, the company said."

77 comments

  1. Too much Cat-5 by gnick · · Score: 4, Funny

    At those distances, I'd have gone wireless. Wait to string ethernet to the space station until we're done with the space elevator.

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    1. Re:Too much Cat-5 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      For twelve years, you have been asking: Who is John Galt? This is John Galt speaking. I am the man who loves his life. I am the man who does not sacrifice his love or his values. I am the man who has deprived you of victims and thus has destroyed your world, and if you wish to know why you are perishing-you who dread knowledge-I am the man who will now tell you.' The chief engineer was the only one able to move; he ran to a television set and struggled frantically with its dials. But the screen remained empty; the speaker had not chosen to be seen. Only his voice filled the airways of the country-of the world, thought the chief engineer-sounding as if he were speaking here, in this room, not to a group, but to one man; it was not the tone of addressing a meeting, but the tone of addressing a mind.

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      "Men do not live by the mind, you say? I have withdrawn those who do. The mind is impotent, you say? I have withdrawn those whose mind isn't. There are values higher than the mind, you say? I have withdrawn those for whom there aren't.

      "While you were dragging to your sacrificial altars the men of justice, of independence, of reason, of wealth, of self-esteem-I beat you to it, I reached them first. I told them the nature of the game you were playing and the nature of that moral code of yours, which they had been too innocently generous to grasp. I showed them the way to live by another morality-mine. It is mine that they chose to follow.

      "All the men who have vanished, the men you hated, yet dreaded to lose, it is I who have taken them away from you. Do not attempt to find us. We do not choose to be found. Do not cry that it is our duty to serve you. We do not recognize such duty. Do not cry that you need us. We do not consider need a claim. Do not cry that you own us. You don't. Do not beg us to return. We are on strike, we, the men of the mind.

      "We are on strike against self-immolation. We are on strike against the creed of unearned rewards and unrewarded duties. We are on strike against the dogma that the pursuit of one's happiness is evil. We are on strike against the doctrine that life is guilt.

      "There is a difference between our strike and all those you've practiced for centuries: our strike consists, not of making demands, but of granting them. We are evil, according to your morality. We have chosen not to harm you any longer. We are useless, according to your economics. We have chosen not to exploit you any longer. We a

    2. Re:Too much Cat-5 by InsertWittyNameHere · · Score: 3, Funny

      Dont be so short sighted. We should run Cat6, if not fiber.

    3. Re:Too much Cat-5 by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 3, Funny

      Agreed. I also hope they have it in conduits or something. Otherwise, somebody is will trip over it and pull the space station out of orbit.

    4. Re:Too much Cat-5 by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 3, Funny

      At those distances, I'd have gone wireless. Wait to string ethernet to the space station until we're done with the space elevator.

      I can't wait to see the looks on their faces at the ISS when the backhoe shows up.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    5. Re:Too much Cat-5 by sgt+scrub · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Do it the way the pros do. Wait until the government promises you a tax write off then just don't do it. It worked for the telco's.

      --
      Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
    6. Re:Too much Cat-5 by idontgno · · Score: 1

      The correct solution is "Tether the space elevator with Cat x, for sufficiently high values of x."*

      *Derivation of the value of x is left as an exercise for the reader.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    7. Re:Too much Cat-5 by Decameron81 · · Score: 1

      At those distances, I'd have gone wireless. Wait to string ethernet to the space station until we're done with the space elevator.

      I wonder what the support guys think about the wire.

      --
      diegoT
    8. Re:Too much Cat-5 by koutbo6 · · Score: 1

      wireless,wired it really doesnt matter.
      the real question is will they cap or throttle?

      --
      You speak London? I speak London very best.
    9. Re:Too much Cat-5 by koutbo6 · · Score: 1

      I stand corrected
      the real question is, will pr0n be censored?

      --
      You speak London? I speak London very best.
    10. Re:Too much Cat-5 by ArcCoyote · · Score: 1

      Apparently not.

    11. Re:Too much Cat-5 by peragrin · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      I have heard about digging the last mile. I wonder how much time warner is gonna charge NASA for it?

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    12. Re:Too much Cat-5 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Be vewwry vewrry quiet. I'm huntin' fibah!

    13. Re:Too much Cat-5 by Fred_A · · Score: 1

      Dont be so short sighted. We should run Cat6, if not fiber.

      I thought tubes were the big thing these days.

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    14. Re:Too much Cat-5 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Better yet, we should make some cat6 out of carbon nano tubes, then the cable and also be the space elevator.

  2. Didn't they watch BS:G? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Networking on board spaceships is bad. The Cylons can tap into them.

    1. Re:Didn't they watch BS:G? by gnick · · Score: 1

      That works both ways. Shove a piece of fiber into the wrist of a friendly Cylon and you can immobilize their entire invasion fleet. At least that's my understanding.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    2. Re:Didn't they watch BS:G? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Phew, just wait until Cyscons start invading your network...

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    3. Re:Didn't they watch BS:G? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'd love to shove a... ehem... "fiber"... into another kind of "wrist" on that cute asian one, and immobilize it with multiple orgasms. ^^

      Imagine the whole fleet, including the base-stars and hunters having constant orgasms. Would be a funny sight... Until they "cum" with all their nukes at once.

    4. Re:Didn't they watch BS:G? by PitaBred · · Score: 1

      Way to take "funny" and turn it into "creepy", AC! I'll bet you're a hit at parties.

      --
      My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
    5. Re:Didn't they watch BS:G? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well i do like to take it all the way, if you catch my drift. ;)

    6. Re:Didn't they watch BS:G? by Fluffeh · · Score: 1

      Well, your drift is as subtle as a brick through the bedroom window when all the family is asleep. Just because we get it doesn't mean our laughs are that "uncomfortable, did someone just fart" sort of laughs.

      --
      Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
  3. Someone had to do it... by nwf · · Score: 4, Funny

    Would that be Aethernet?

    More here

    --
    I don't know, but it works for me.
    1. Re:Someone had to do it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yeah, I was wondering how you're going to do Ethernet without the ether.

    2. Re:Someone had to do it... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      Duh. The visibility of starlight proves that the luminiferous aether pervades the universe...

    3. Re:Someone had to do it... by Senior+Frac · · Score: 1

      I could have sworn that was something out of one of the E. E. Doc Smith books. Yet here it was something hokey thought up by the ancient greeks.

    4. Re:Someone had to do it... by sketerpot · · Score: 1

      No, æthernet would more likely be a packet-based CSMA-using wireless networking method. Something like Wi-Fi would count.

  4. WRWAN by erroneus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It might be an interesting project indeed to send out a bunch of peers out into the solar system to relay sensor and communications data. A WRWAN (Wireless Really Wide Area Network) might be the kind of utility that could facilitate more reliable data flow for future exploration projects.

    1. Re:WRWAN by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      Interesting, but difficult as hell because of the enormous amounts of power required, and the large antenna required, and the high pointing sensitivity required... Much simpler to put all that hardware on Earth, which can 'see' the majority of the solar system and the equipment can be easily gotten at for maintenance and upgrades.

    2. Re:WRWAN by TransientAlias · · Score: 1

      Someone will put a dish on his roof, hack in and use it to spam...

    3. Re:WRWAN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's already being done, at least in the case of Mars. Probes on the surface of Mars (like the rovers) share communication facilities via a whole infrastructure of orbiters left in place by previous missions.

      Closer to Earth, NASA's got enormous TDRS satellites that sit up in space and relay communications to ground stations.

      And then there's the Interplanetary Internet work NASA's been doing, which has been to see if we can apply IP-style technology to the space exploration network.

      Basically, NASA is doing what you propose, but piggybacking capabilities on existing space probes, rather than using dedicated missions. Considering the kind of ranges we're talking about in most cases, this is a lot more cost effective.

  5. Very fragile network by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you take down the sun, the entire network would fall apart in 8 minutes flat.

    1. Re:Very fragile network by metaforest · · Score: 1

      If you take down the Sun, the entire network would fall apart in 8 minutes flat.

      There fixed that for you :P

    2. Re:Very fragile network by youn · · Score: 1

      Of course, we can think of ourselve as "the center of the universe" :)... I believe it's already been done... but I believe even the Vatican is not adamant about that these days. :) The universe's backup system seems fine to me. Of course I'm not a Universe Backup Strategy Expert... but here's my take... I believe the universe is built in a redundant start topology system... with them often organized in clusters. Light emitted id sent as a continuous optic backup beam, in all directions, using a mega thermo cooled void serving as a conduit (think supra conductors) called the ether (the complete name being the ether - net). It's not fiber optic, it's better than fiber.... at such distance collisions dont really matter because "information is emitted in all directions at all angles)... as matter of fact, gravity bends some of the rays so it can go through. The emission of data is made in all wavelength, using all possible particles in the dictionary (and not yet in the dictionary). Just the milky way could be thought of a raid 100,000 million system. Who's to say black holes dont serve as a mega parabolic antenna, trapping all data flowing in its direction). Theoretically, with the proper sensing technology, the proper error correction algorithms, all the solar system could be recreated some place else.

      --
      Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that :p
    3. Re:Very fragile network by badkarmadayaccount · · Score: 1

      +1 Insightfully Stoned

      --
      I know tobacco is bad for you, so I smoke weed with crack.
    4. Re:Very fragile network by youn · · Score: 1
      Thanks... in the meanwhile, while talking to a friend who said the problem is you cant get things out of a blackhole... I had time to toy some more with the idea and refine the black hole part...

      Assuming a superior entity wanted to monitor the state universe (Quality control). It could put the CPU in the center of that blackhole, it could process all information necessary... and only react by broadcasting commands through Hawking radiation... like a video surveillance system passively storing and processing billions of images, but only reacting when movement/ a particular event is detected, like intruder alarm triggers.

      Actually, since we're wildly speculating, in such a theory where blackholes would be the recipients of the Universe data, one could say the fact nothing gets out of the system is a firewall, an added security feature.

      of course, today, we cant get things out of a blackhole (retrieval system) but imho, the only reason we cant get anything of a blackhole is... we never actually had blackholes at our disposal to study an interfacing scheme... and that may change when the Hadron collider starts producing micro black holes.

      In fact, theoretically nothing's to prevent us from building an even more powerful collider allowing us to create larger black holes... preferably in orbit where the natural vacuum and low temperature would be a feature... doing it on another planet could be a solution.. I wouldnt want to experiment on earth with real size blackholes

      --
      Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that :p
  6. I'd have taken it all the way to subspace by popo · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...but for those who go through life at impulse power, I suppose this will do.

    --
    ------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
    1. Re:I'd have taken it all the way to subspace by ArcCoyote · · Score: 1

      This is news?

      My copy of the Guide is kept regularly updated by the sub-ether net.

  7. Just what we need... by Kayden · · Score: 2, Funny

    Space memes...

    1. Re:Just what we need... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      In space, no one can hear your jokes about Soviet Russia.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Just what we need... by Nerdfest · · Score: 1

      SG-IP: For addresses outside our galaxy, there's a fifth octet.

      I'm sorry, I thought you were serious.

    3. Re:Just what we need... by ArcCoyote · · Score: 1

      I thought IPv6 was designed for that kind of thing. Can't find any terrestrial uses for it...

    4. Re:Just what we need... by Nerdfest · · Score: 3, Funny

      You won't be able to get YouTube audio over it. In space, no-one can hear you stream.

    5. Re:Just what we need... by Tetsujin · · Score: 1

      In space, no one can hear your jokes about Soviet Russia.

      In Soviet Russia, your jokes can hear no one about space!

      --
      Bow-ties are cool.
  8. Silly NASA, you only get 100m per segment by Dan667 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Only 2000m total. Would be an interesting launch to watch though when the cable runs out.

  9. Only one thing to say: by ptomblin · · Score: 4, Funny

    LAAAAG!

    --
    The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
    1. Re:Only one thing to say: by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      (Replying in part to undo my mistaken overrated mod)

      If you thought that Comcast's bandwidth restrictions were bad, try NASA's.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    2. Re:Only one thing to say: by JustOK · · Score: 2, Funny

      With practice, the pigeons will get faster at putting on their little space suits and the lag will get better.

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
  10. space ethernet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    because when we build a lunar colony or send explorers to mars, they will need porn too.

    1. Re:space ethernet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They can also send down the zero-G stuff as well.

  11. They are not going to run out by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    These are ROCKET-SCIENTISTS! They are not going to do something as silly as measure the cable in yards and the distance in meters. Rocket-scientists don't do that.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:They are not going to run out by xous · · Score: 1

      reference please?

    2. Re:They are not going to run out by old+and+new+again · · Score: 1

      woooooshhhhh!

      --
      Live Electronic Music
  12. It's called AFDX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They already have Fault tolerant ethernet used in avionics systems called AFDX - why pay a foreign company to design an entirely new version of something we already have?

    1. Re:It's called AFDX by Waste55 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The key here is time triggered. This is building on top of current AFDX systems.

  13. "I think USB should be enough for anyone . . . " by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2, Funny

    . . . and during those long, boring missions the astronauts can amuse themselves by untangling all those cables.

    Which would make a good high school space project: do USB cables tangle up in space, while under weightless conditions?

    If so, I'll take one look at the situation under my desk, and move into outer space.

    Plus, USB is cheap; companies give away hubs and memory sticks as advertising. NASA could keep costs down by scrounging USB gear.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  14. Anonymous Coward by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Actually TTTech is an Austrian company (founded in Vienna), there are no kangaroos here but a lot of mountains and we speak German. However great world leader Barack Obama recently suggested us to have our own Austrian language: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAmaGgBrDAs
    The Austrians in comparison to the Germans are like the Kiwis are to the Australians, people always get us mixed up. ;)

    1. Re:Anonymous Coward by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

      I have heard the crap you speak and it really is your own language. Please do not call that german, the only thing worse is the noise the swiss make.

    2. Re:Anonymous Coward by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Austrians in comparison to the Germans are like the Kiwis are to the Australians, people always get us mixed up. ;)

      Especially if it's about past leaders of Germany.

    3. Re:Anonymous Coward by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean The Holy Roman Emperors lording over German principalities?

  15. the interblag in space? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will the tubes reach that high???

  16. Re:"I think USB should be enough for anyone . . . by Amouth · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2077237

    Gravity isn't required only some motion of the string

    --
    '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  17. TTTech is an Austrian company by bkingaut · · Score: 1

    Maybe I misunderstood the news but it kind of implies that TTTech is a german company which is wrong :-)

  18. Easy... by RussDavisDotCom · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just set the TCP timeout to 1,586,654,255 seconds. Problem solved. Next.

    --
    My favorite phrase: You have 5 Moderator Points! Use 'em or lose 'em!
  19. Communicator Network by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess they are trying to build a Communications Network like they did in Star Trek. They think that just because they have relay probes, that the time delay will go down. Sorry can't have instant Convo's or Streaming at those distances.

  20. Oh noes! by kheldan · · Score: 4, Funny

    Space ethernet + conficker = Skynet???!?

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    1. Re:Oh noes! by metaforest · · Score: 1

      I was thinking....

      SPAAAAaaaaaaaccceeee GHOoooooossst!!!!!!

      YMMV

  21. Token Ring? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This sounds a bit like taking ethernet hardware (good for costs), and layering a token ring type system on top of it. Sounds like a good way to me to guarantee real-time performance to me.

  22. you followin me camera guy? by Vorpix · · Score: 1

    at least it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff.

    --
    frog blast the vent core
  23. Warcraft in space! by dlfretz · · Score: 1

    Because, you have a lot of time to kill and the install DVD is still in the box back home. It all makes perfect sense.

  24. Bittorrent in space? by dlfretz · · Score: 1

    When bittorrent has been outlawed on Earth. There's only one way to go ... satellite bittorrent servers in space!

  25. Lasers by Jared555 · · Score: 1

    If you can use fiber optic links for Ethernet, why not take it a step further and use lasers? Probably have to be a pretty powerful laser to get out of the atmosphere with a usable signal but once you get past that it could probably be done. Tricky part would be aiming the beams but you might be able to use a combination of GPS signals or something equivalent, triangulation, and trajectory prediction.

  26. no more buffering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    so basically they can watch porn on the space station without waiting for it to buffer...

    got it.

  27. In To DEEP SPACE.....? by IHC+Navistar · · Score: 1

    Should I expect a shortage on CAT-5 cable?

    --
    Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
  28. This is actually great news by decsnake · · Score: 1

    If any of you klowns ever had to implement a distributed computing system on a spacecraft using the 1553 bus you'd appreciate what a huge development this could be. However, it sounds like its coming out of the Cx program which worries me. Hopefully it's not brain-damaged and it will catch on because if I never see another 1553 bus controller or RT chip again in my life that would be just fine. BTW, Spacewire is an even bigger PITA as 1553, only faster. This could possibly replace both 1553 and Spacewire, which would be even better.

  29. LANStar by Blairius · · Score: 1

    I recommend a Star topology.

  30. If Battlestar Galactica taught me anything.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    is DON'T network your computers in a spaceship!