en.Wedoany.com Reported - Aalyria has been awarded a contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop and deliver a Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) Network Operations Center, providing standards-based DTN transport and management services to ground station operators.
The contract aims to support space agencies in transitioning to a network-centric operating model. This model is built on an interoperable communications architecture spanning Earth, the Moon, Mars, and deep space. Aalyria is partnering with Goonhilly Earth Station, which operates the world's first privately owned deep space communications antenna, and the products will be deployed at Goonhilly's ground station in Cornwall, where they will qualify for commercial deep space operations.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connects Earth, while DTN will connect the solar system. When exchanging data with assets at lunar distances, round-trip signal delays approach three seconds; on Mars, delays can exceed 20 minutes. Communication windows between spacecraft and ground stations open and close based on orbital mechanics. DTN solves this problem at the protocol level: it stores data at each node and forwards it when the next link becomes available, ensuring delivery regardless of whether a complete route exists at the time of transmission.
The project aims to blur the lines between ground and space assets, effectively establishing open standards and interoperable protocols for space similar to those of the terrestrial internet. Aalyria's DTN NOC will provide the ground infrastructure for this layer, designed to be interoperable with LunaNet. LunaNet is a lunar connectivity framework being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), ESA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and commercial partners such as Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space, Viasat, and Intuitive Machines. The Artemis program is returning astronauts to cislunar space, and commercial operators are already beginning to establish a presence on the lunar surface.
Aalyria CEO Brian Barritt stated that the space economy is at a turning point similar to the internet in the early 1990s, and DTN is the network protocol on which interoperable deep space communications will be standardized, playing the same architectural role as TCP/IP does on Earth. The DTN NOC built together with ESA is the operational infrastructure that enables this approach to scale across government and commercial missions.
Felix Flentge, software engineer at ESA's Operations Directorate, noted that the solar system internet is a network of networks, connecting space and ground infrastructure to provide standardized, interoperable communications and navigation services. DTN is the network layer of this architecture, and ground-based NOC capabilities make it operational. Aalyria's technical depth in DTN, combined with Goonhilly's deep space infrastructure, gives this partnership the capabilities required for the solar system internet.
