I have worked with CAN on spacecraft and it was always a great option for what we needed. It is used as the critical communications bus on the spacecraft where

I have worked with CAN on spacecraft and it was always a great option for what we needed. It is used as the critical communications bus on the spacecraft where the real-time timing is needed. So systems that control telemetry, tracking and control (TTC) and attitude determination and control of the spacecraft are usually run on CAN or something similar. But there is always a mix of communications standards. For higher speed data (such as from an imaging payload) then other standards such as Ethernet, LVDS, Spacewire, etc. are used. For a critical communications bus in space there aren't that many good options. CAN and MIL-STD-1553 are probably the most common that you will find. I have worked with both and CAN is definitely much nicer to use.