NASA has released a bunch of free software to be used in various technical applications. The software catalog 2017-2018 officially released by NASA is organized into fifteen broad subject matter categories. The categories include free codes for highly advanced aircraft and drones, tools to understand the universe better and explore the space. People can now use these codes for various technical applications without paying any copyright fees or royalty. Besides space exploration, NASA has been creating new technologies and software to bring positive change in our lives in different ways.
NASA Software Catalog
The fifteen categories are-
- Business Systems and Project Management
- Data Servers Processing and Handling
- Materials and Processes
- System Testing
- Propulsion
- Electronics and Electrical Power
- Operations
- Structures and Mechanisms
- Environmental Science
- Design and Integration Tools
- Crew and Life Support
- Autonomous Systems
- Vehicle Management
- Data and Image Processing
- Aeronautics
This is for the first time that NASA has released many different software packages. Also, each software catalog now comes with a detailed description. The software catalog is available online as well as an offline hard copy format.
Talking about the catalog release, Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) in Washington said, “The software catalog is our way of supporting the innovation economy by granting access to tools used by today’s top aerospace professionals to entrepreneurs, small businesses, academia, and industry. Access to these software codes has the potential to generate tangible benefits that create American jobs, earn revenue and save lives.”
The first pilot edition the software catalog from NASA was released to the public in April 2014 and this is the third release in the series. NASA has been sharing thousands of its programs and software kits with various industries, students, and institutions. The software catalog released by NASA is considered as the first open source listing of software by the U.S government agency and has a potential to save lives, create jobs and make money. NASA releases this software for public usage with a motto to see a creative and productive output.
Innovations and discoveries at NASA are not necessarily about the universe and space. Not everyone knows but around 30% of innovations at NASA are software to be used in academia, professionals, small businesses, and entrepreneurs.
Head over to the official NASA page to get your hands on the software catalog 2017-2018. the software itself can be downloaded from this web page.
