DTN is cool stuff. We had a few applications built up for distributed "delay aware" computing so that you could, at the network/application boundary, farm out jobs for e.g., an orbiting compute cluster coming over the horizon.
Really fun times.
There are many conferences and academic discussions that spend a long time bikeshedding while industry actually does stuff.
The lack of involvement from industry in a field where stuff is happening suggests to me this is one of them.
Their work is gaining traction. DTN Bundle Protocol has been baselined for the LunaNet specification, which a bunch of private companies are designing to for lunar relay networks. Bundle Protocol is also currently on the CCSDS standards track so it should be formally part of the CCSDS protocol suite soon.
For those unaware: CCSDS is the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, they set widely used standards for spacecraft communications protocols. Basically anything beyond Earth orbit flies some variant of a CCSDS protocol stack, and a substantial chunk of missions in Earth orbit do as well, particularly if they are government funded. It's an international effort, China and Russia participate too so that everyone can communicate if need be.
Remind me again, which companies are going inter-planetary?
> to cuss and discuss
...is a turn of phrase that's new to me and I love it. Totally stealing that.
In the old days, public schools in suburban Texas were quirky, but the quality of education was relatively decent. For instance, I remember that Thomas Jefferson was president in 1803 when the Louisiana Purchase was finalized.