NASA Ares Rocket Specs to Be Open Source

Bruce writes "As a step toward returning to the moon, NASA announced last week that Boeing will be the lead contractor for the Ares I rocket. Interestingly, Popular Mechanics reports that the system's specifications will be 'open-source and non-proprietary' to encourage competition on future contracts."

Comments

Re:An obvious attempt to obtain serious QA

[CodeShark]

Watch what you say there, because the shuttle's software code is some of the best stuff out there, given that it is multiply redundant, and hasn't had a major failure that I know of, ever. The shuttle software team is known for doing code reviews at a level that most companies I know of can only dream of -- I remember an article several years ago that showed their code to be provably bug free at a something like 3-4 bugs per 500,0000 lines of code.

What seems cool about "open source" relative to this project is that it may make the specifications much more solid in all areas (any interested engineer can spot problems or suggest enhancements, not just NASA paid engineers, but at the same time I doubt that all of the rocket specs CAN be fully open sourced, because if you can put a rocket into space with sufficient accuracy to put a manned craft into lunar orbit, you can also put a warhead on that same rocket and plop it with decent accuracy anywhere in the world.

Which, given the rogue elements in our world and a number of fairly rich folks willing to fund the rogues, is, as you might surmise, NOT A GOOD THING.