NASA announces new open source project
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (nasa), usa, has announced a new open-source project called Cosmoscode.
The project, which will be open to the public in coming weeks, aims to recruit volunteers who will write code for live space missions.
The project has been initiated by CoLab, which is an effort by nasa to invite the public to help nasa scientists with various engineering problems. It indicates a significant shift in nasa towards openness and transparency.
One of the goals of Cosmoscode is to explore the cost and benefit of leveraging the free and open source development process for projects that normally costs millions of dollars in development and testing. The space agency is also digging into its files from previous missions and releasing codes that has remained behind closed doors.
It has already released more than 20 open-source software titles, including World Wind, a 3-d virtual globe similar to Google Earth, and Vision Workbench, a framework for computer vision applications. Organisers of Cosmoscode say they are now working towards creating a wish list of software that could include applications such as mission-design and flight software.