NASA Requires Open Source Software for Ares Avionics

December 20, 2007 at 10:26 am | In Space Law | Leave a Comment

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty
NASA has mandated that the avionics software for the Ares I booster be open source (hat tip Dick’s Rocket Dungeon). The legal document under which this is done is the NASA Open Source Agreement v. 1.3. The effect is that, while Boeing will be responsible for building the initial rocket, in the future other companies will be able to bid on contracts. This is because the software infrastructure will be non-proprietary, thereby making it easier for a new company to step in and do work.

You can read more at linuxdevices.com and Popular Mechanics.