NASA Releases Classic Software To Public Domain

xpccx writes in with a bit from NewsBytes, "NASA turned 43 this month and marked the occasion by releasing more than 200 of its scientific and engineering applications for public use. The modular Fortran programs can be modified, compiled and run on most Linux platforms." The software can be found at OpenChannelSoftware.com. At long last I am ready to prepare my own space mission. I wonder if a whiskey barrel is gonna be air tight after I launch it/me into space with a trebuchet. (It's this sort of unconventional thinking that should get me my job at NASA. Or at least get me put to sleep).

Comments

Bugs?

[ebcdic]

It will be interesting to see if the "many-eyes" effect of free software turns up bugs in these programs that have been used for years.

Re:Sounds Good

[Detritus]

Congratulations, everything that you posted is wrong.

See this page for some factual information on the Shuttle's computer systems.

Most modern NASA software is open

[Dr. Zowie]

Most of the software developed for NASA projects these days is open -- at least, the scientific operations and data analysis software. For example, check out the solarsoft distribution of solar physics analysis software, including planning tools for most existing solar instruments. CVS and Sourceforge it ain't -- but you can get your hands on the actual software that is being used in the SOHO, TRACE, Yohkoh, and HESSI missions (and soon STEREO and Solar-B too).

Re:NASA

[Anonymous Coward]

Regarding the evolution of Fortran, I had a CS professor who used to say, "Nobody knows what the programming language we'll use 20 years from now will look like, but you can bet it will be called Fortran."