Patrick J. Moran, Software Release Authority, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

NASA Tech Briefs, Apr 2005

NASA conducts research and development in software technology as an essential response to the needs of NASA missions. Under NASA software release policy, a number of options are available, including Open Source. Patrick Moran, Software Release Authority at NASA Ames, discusses the benefits of releasing NASA software Open Source.

NASA Tech Briefs: What is Open Source software?

Patrick J. Moran: It's software that is distributed with source code and a usage agreement that grants the recipient certain rights; in particular, the rights to modify and to redistribute the software.

NTB: How did an Open Source release option come about within NASA?

Moran: In May of 2002, the Information Technology directorate at Ames put together a working group to create an Open Source option for NASA software release. We saw a growing trend at other government agencies where projects were increasingly being released as Open Source. We saw this trend in industry and academia as well. We felt that NASA should be going in the same direction. The Ames working group produced a report in favor of an Open Source option and laid the foundation for the first releases.

In parallel to that effort, NASA legal put together a team that created what is called the NOSA - the NASA Open Source Agreement. This is an agreement that can be used by all the centers. They also got the agreement endorsed by the Open Source Initiative (OSI).

NTB: What is NASA's motivation for releasing software Open Source?

Moran: There are several. In a research environment, releasing software serves many of the same roles and has many of the same motivations behind it as traditional publishing. Also, NASA's charter directs us to disseminate information as widely as practicable; Open Source is a natural response to that directive.

NTB: How will the software be distributed?

Moran: The software will be distributed via the Web. We released the first NASA Open Source pilot projects in January of 2004, and our Open Source Web site went online that spring. NASA Goddard also has a Web site that features Open Source releases.

NTB: What is the benefit to the user?

Moran: There are different scenarios and it depends on the type of software that is being distributed. In a researchoriented environment, we are very interested in collaborations with industry and academia. Open Source enables us to lower the barriers to building these collaborations.

NTB: What software will be made available on the Web site?

Moran: First, not all NASA software will be available Open Source. In particular, software that has export restrictions or proprietary components is not destined to be Open Source. There is software for grid computing and viewing very large images on tiled displays. There is not really one specific niche that we're addressing.

Our goal is to further the missions of NASA, especially in the information technology realm, where much of the research involves software. We expect that by being able to release things Open Source and make them available in an easy-to-find way, we will enhance the research going on at the center and ultimately support the missions that the center is focused on.

A full transcript of this interview appears online at www.techbriefs.com/whoswho. Contact Patrick Moran at pmoran@mail. arc.nasa.gov. Visit Ames' Open Source software Web site at http://opensource.arc. nasa.gov.