Submission + - NASA to Catalog and Release Its Open Source Codes
An anonymous reader writes: By the end of next week, NASA will release a master catalog of over 1,000 software projects it has conducted over the years and will provide instructions on how the public can obtain copies of the source codes. NASA's goal is to eventually 'host the actual software code in its own online repository, a kind of GitHub for astronauts.' Since these are open source codes, anyone can use them for private or commercial purposes without having to pay royalties or copyright fees. Scientists not affiliated with NASA have already adapted some of NASA's software. 'In 2005, marine biologists adapted the Hubble Space Telescope’s star-mapping algorithm to track and identify endangered whale sharks. That software has now been adapted to track polar bears in the arctic and sunfish in the Galapagos Islands.' The Hubble Space Telescope's scheduling software has reportedly also been used to schedule MRIs at hospitals and as control algorithms for online dating services. The possibilities could be endless.
