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NASA Releases 2017-2018 Catalog of Software For Free (nasa.gov)

mspohr writes: Eureka Magazine has a story about the latest NASA 2017-2018 software catalog. From the report: "NASA has released its 2017-2018 software catalogue free of charge to the public, without any royalty or copyright fees. This third edition of the publication has contributions from all the agency's centers on data processing/storage, business systems, operations, propulsion and aeronautics. It includes many of the tools NASA uses to explore space and broaden our understanding of the universe. 'The software catalogue 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,' said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) in Washington. 'Access to these software codes has the potential to generate tangible benefits that create jobs, earn revenue and save lives.'" Amazing amount of quality software... it IS rocket science. Further reading (and digesting): TechCrunch

71 comments

  1. Moonbase alpha 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With improved tts

  2. 'Scuze me? by SeaFox · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Eureka Magazine has a story about the latest NASA 2017-2018 software catalog. From the report: "NASA has released its 2017-2018 software catalogue free of charge to the public, without any royalty or copyright fees.

    Seems to me the software was already paid for by me. Or does NASA think their budget grows on a money tree in space?

    1. Re:'Scuze me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah. And the ISS was in part paid by me, so I want a ticket on the next ride there to inspect my property!

      Just because something is funded by taxes doesn't mean that it automatically lands in the public domain. Sorry.

      But I think it is good when a government agency decides to give back to the public, stuff that lies outside of their normal operations.

    2. Re:'Scuze me? by SeaFox · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah. And the ISS was in part paid by me, so I want a ticket on the next ride there to inspect my property!

      Just because something is funded by taxes doesn't mean that it automatically lands in the public domain. Sorry.

      Most appropriate response.

    3. Re:'Scuze me? by silentcoder · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Which is, of course, why NASA keeps giving the software away to the public - who did, after all, pay for it. Their contributions to the rest of the economy has been pretty significant. There's hardly a data-center left in the world that doesn't have clusters. Big cloud providers like AWS utterly rely on them for reliability and performance scaling - and their early-use cases like building cheap super-computers for things like climate modeling, aerodynamic engineering or rendering awesome looking animated movies are all alive and well.
      And that all started at NASA with the original Beowulf clusters - a technology idea they subsequently made freely available and became one of the original major growth-points for Linux in science and industry.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    4. Re:'Scuze me? by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      >Just because something is funded by taxes doesn't mean that it automatically lands in the public domain. Sorry.

      That ought to be the default outcome however. If they want to keep something out of the public's hands - they should have to defend that decision and request a special exemption.

      Your ISS example is silly though. The reason you can't demand a ticket isn't because you don't own a legitimate share in that great endeavour - but because the cost of getting you there would EXCEED your share. If you pay the travel fees though - their happy to let you visit.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    5. Re:'Scuze me? by dougdonovan · · Score: 0

      Or does NASA think their budget grows on a money tree in space? did you not get the memo ?

    6. Re:'Scuze me? by piojo · · Score: 2

      You may have helped pay for the development, but publishing is a discretionary expense. Some agencies would say you can have it, but you need to pay for the manpower to get it into a publishable format. ($0.10 copying fee for a friendly and well-organized local government office, much much more for a query made by the FOIA which requires a lengthy search.)

      I haven't actually heard of a super pricey information retrieval fee, but I'd be surprised if it hasn't happened.

      --
      A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
    7. Re:'Scuze me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well I suppose I am able to at least go around and inspect any taxpayer funded facility I like then.

    8. Re:'Scuze me? by Rei · · Score: 3, Informative

      The thing is, this is already default for NASA. NASA is far more open than ESA. They public domain everything they can, and are much more open about releasing raw data, sooner. ESA is the one that really needs to get past its closed culture.

      I'm not quite getting the point of this "release", since I use a number of pieces of NASA software and have always been able to get what I need. I guess they're just taking down the request forms or something? The real problem IMHO has never been "getting it", it's been "getting it to work". They make some very neat things, but they have such small user bases that they're not well refined, and getting them to work on your platform or finding quality documentation can be a pain.

      --
      The big brain am winning again! I am the greetist! Now I am leaving for no particular raisin!
    9. Re:'Scuze me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The burn off of that reply will take many days to scab over.
      I opened that image in a new tab and studied it for too long before I asked myself the question, “what do these apples and oranges, that we are comparing, represent?”
      Well played.

    10. Re:'Scuze me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > does NASA think their budget grows on a money tree

      Don't all government agencies?

    11. Re:'Scuze me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which is, of course, why NASA keeps giving the software away to the public - who did, after all, pay for it. Their contributions to the rest of the economy has been pretty significant. There's hardly a data-center left in the world that doesn't have clusters. Big cloud providers like AWS utterly rely on them for reliability and performance scaling - and their early-use cases like building cheap super-computers for things like climate modeling, aerodynamic engineering or rendering awesome looking animated movies are all alive and well.
      And that all started at NASA with the original Beowulf clusters - a technology idea they subsequently made freely available and became one of the original major growth-points for Linux in science and industry.

      Not to mention one of the major memes on Slashdot.

      Now... can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of Slashdot memes?

    12. Re:'Scuze me? by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      Oh I know - I agree NASA is doing it the right way - my argument is that this should be the default for ALL software produced with ANY tax dollars - whether by a government agency or under a government contract. I would even extend it beyond "software" to "information".

      In other words, I was arguing that the rest of government should copy NASA's policies regarding openness.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    13. Re:'Scuze me? by RabidReindeer · · Score: 2

      Just because something is funded by taxes doesn't mean that it automatically lands in the public domain. Sorry.

      Well, actually, it did once. Back before universities routinely monetized their work and R&D was allowed to do things without guaranteeing a profit by next quarter. And everything the government did was expected to be privatized.

      One of the first RDBMS's was a public domain NASA project (developed by Boeing, I believe).

      Legend has it that Prime Computer was founded when a bunch of engineers at Honeywell got fed up with their employer's apathy towards developing computer systems in-house, took a public-domain NASA OS written in Fortran, and developed hardware optimized to run it. NASA certainly was one of their clients, because every time one of their systems at KSC blew a board, an Prime engineer would yank one of ours (the price of getting a high-end minicomputer at a discount).

      Supposedly, even software designed for the CIA was open-sourced as long as it was considered safe for national security. I've heard claims that some of the prototype code for Oracle was available that way.

    14. Re:'Scuze me? by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Yeah. And the ISS was in part paid by me, so I want a ticket on the next ride there to inspect my property!

      The local municipal sewage plant was paid for by me. And the city would be happy to arrange an inspection tour.

      But they'd still expect me to drive myself there.

    15. Re:'Scuze me? by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      Oh I know - I agree NASA is doing it the right way - my argument is that this should be the default for ALL software produced with ANY tax dollars - whether by a government agency or under a government contract. I would even extend it beyond "software" to "information".

      In other words, I was arguing that the rest of government should copy NASA's policies regarding openness.

      While I am in general agreement my concern is in some cases it would significantly raise the cost to the government since companies would now have to factor in the loss of rights to the software and thus potential future sales. Years ago I developed some courseware for the government which the agency that contracted it has full rights to its use. Had they said, "We will release it to the public free of charge" my price would have been significantly higher to offset any potential impact on revenue from other companies that also contract with me. I suspect other companies would do the same if the product they sold has commercial applications.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    16. Re:'Scuze me? by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      Oh I know - I agree NASA is doing it the right way - my argument is that this should be the default for ALL software produced with ANY tax dollars - whether by a government agency or under a government contract. I would even extend it beyond "software" to "information".

      In other words, I was arguing that the rest of government should copy NASA's policies regarding openness.

      While I applaud NASA's actions, a quick browse of the catalogue shows a number of the items are for "U.S. Government Purpose Release" which precludes its release to the public, per NASA:

      U.S. Government Purpose Release: This large, but restrictive, release category includes five subcategories. An SUA is required, and appropriate nondisclosure and export control provisions may be included. The following subcategories are included under this release category.

      Beta Release: A limited release of the Software Code Baseline for government purposes of acquiring evaluation comments and feedback.

      Project Release: Any release of the Software Product Baseline or the Software Accepted (As-Built) Baseline to be used on behalf of the U.S. government.

      Developmental Release: A release of the Software Product Baseline specifically for further development on behalf of the government and not including operational use.

      Interagency Release: A release of any software for use by another U.S. government agency.

      NASA Release: A release of any software for use only by NASA personnel and NASA contractors.

      https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/techtransfer/technology/software-release.html#gov

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    17. Re:'Scuze me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Don't all government agencies?

      No.

      Well, maybe the Department of Defense does.

    18. Re:'Scuze me? by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      Well, in the process where an agency could apply for an exemption to the default rule they could certainly raise it if a supplier made such a claim. At that point they could consider
      1) A different supplier
      2) Developing it in-house instead (if it's cheaper than the revised price)

      or if neither is viable - they may grant an exemption - or a temporary one which says the government will wait at least 5 years to make it public or something.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    19. Re:'Scuze me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, apparently I eat a lot more apples than average. I easily eat at least 30 kilos of apples as a raw fruit, not counting pies, juice and other forms. Oranges, I don't know, how many kilos does it take to make a glass of OJ? And apparently Turkey really likes both oranges and apples, interesting.

      Can you tell I'm bored at work?

    20. Re:'Scuze me? by khallow · · Score: 1

      But they'd still expect me to drive myself there.

      But you paid for the road. That's so unfair.

    21. Re:'Scuze me? by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      Well, in the process where an agency could apply for an exemption to the default rule they could certainly raise it if a supplier made such a claim. At that point they could consider 1) A different supplier 2) Developing it in-house instead (if it's cheaper than the revised price)

      or if neither is viable - they may grant an exemption - or a temporary one which says the government will wait at least 5 years to make it public or something.

      True, but one problem is the procurement process. If it required allowing free public use by default the bids would already incorporate that so government would have no idea what the premium was; and once they open the bidding they have to either take the lowest bid from a qualified bidder or cancel the RFP and start the process all over which is very painful.

      As for in house development, many agencies do not have the staff to do that and often hire contractors to do the development; which is one way to fully own the software since they essentially are paying for it based on a T&M contract. That can get quite expensive as specs get clarified and or changed.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    22. Re:'Scuze me? by WallyL · · Score: 1

      Yes, I can.

    23. Re:'Scuze me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I pay for other peoples kids to go to school. Therefore, I think they should give me some portion of all of their adult income.

      I pay for the roads that the trucks drive on that bring stuff to walmart. That's why walmart owes me some portion of their profits.

    24. Re:'Scuze me? by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      But at least AC doesn't have to pay for the sky!

      And now you've got the Firefly theme running through my head!

    25. Re:'Scuze me? by mspohr · · Score: 1

      This is the third release of a catalog of available software... more new bits.

      --
      I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    26. Re:'Scuze me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dude, you should have elected Nasa as president. The only thing I care to buy anything american goods is because I know part of that will go to Nasa. That pussy grabbing, wall building idiot you elected will tank your economy. Let him further cut Nasa's budget and I'm done with anything from USA. (yeah, I know I'm only 1 person lol...)

    27. Re:'Scuze me? by mspohr · · Score: 1

      My experience with software written for the government by contractors is that they charge big bucks for writing the software and fight to keep the copyright so they can sell it again and again even though taxpayers have already paid for it.

      --
      I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    28. Re:'Scuze me? by mspohr · · Score: 1

      I've never seen a "per page" fee for electronic documents or software.

      --
      I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    29. Re:'Scuze me? by Holi · · Score: 1

      Actually, it does, The government cannot copyright documents it creates for that very reason.

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    30. Re:'Scuze me? by Holi · · Score: 1
      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    31. Re:'Scuze me? by Holi · · Score: 1

      And the point is that he is wrong. Works produced by the government are by law in the public domain.

      "A work of the United States government, as defined by the United States copyright law, is "a work prepared by an officer or employee" of the federal government "as part of that person's official duties." In general, under section 105 of the Copyright Act, such works are not entitled to domestic copyright protection under U.S. law and are therefore in the public domain."

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    32. Re:'Scuze me? by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      So the law already says essentially what I proposed. Cool.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    33. Re:'Scuze me? by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 0

      You are free to go to the ISS at anytime you wish however you have to get there on your own. Just like Central Park in NYC or the museums in Washington, DC.

    34. Re:'Scuze me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While I am in general agreement my concern is in some cases it would significantly raise the cost to the government since companies would now have to factor in the loss of rights to the software and thus potential future sales. Years ago I developed some courseware for the government which the agency that contracted it has full rights to its use. Had they said, "We will release it to the public free of charge" my price would have been significantly higher to offset any potential impact on revenue from other companies that also contract with me. I suspect other companies would do the same if the product they sold has commercial applications.

      So, did you create it and sell a license to the government or were you contracted to create the software as a work for hire?

      If the latter, the ownership was never yours. You could create something similar (as the knowledge and skills required to do the work are your own) but selling a copy to another client would be illegal.

  3. It's all slavery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NASA is tax funded.

    We have no choice but to pay.

    The State decides how much we pay.

    NASA produces and now publishes software. It is not clear how efficiently produced that software was, or what the actual need for it is, and in any case, none of us were asked or had a meaningful choice in paying for it, so it's irrelevant.

    1. Re:It's all slavery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  4. Thank you by Stonefish · · Score: 2

    I would just like to say thank you, and I hope that other government agencies worldwide contribute equally. Being born when astronauts were taking the first steps towards the moon I have always held NASA in high regard and it is fabulous that they keep impressing many decades later.

  5. For North Korea... by gyepi · · Score: 1

    ...the Autonomous Precision Landing Navigation System might come in handy. It combines camera images with elevation maps using methods “employed by cruise missiles for decades,” although you don’t hear a lot about safe landings by cruise missiles."

    (From the linked article)

    --
    Attitudes make the difference between Space and Time: we want to MAX our temporal, and MIN our spatial extension.
    1. Re:For North Korea... by silentcoder · · Score: 2

      For a cruise misile "hit the building we were aiming at and not the hospital next door" counts as "safe landing". Sadly even by that definition the US's cruise misiles rarely "land safely". From which I can only conclude that NASA didn't write their software. NASA tends to land things safely far more often than not. They've had a few nice landings on MARS now for example - the ESA's last attempt went kerplatz.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    2. Re:For North Korea... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      As long as ESA and NASA don't collab and some idiot uses imperial units, it should be fine.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:For North Korea... by silentcoder · · Score: 1

      Oh right... I had forgotten about that little embarrassment until now.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    4. Re:For North Korea... by dbIII · · Score: 1

      As long as ESA and NASA don't collab

      Initially they did collaborate on the lander but the NASA people had their funding cut and without NASA involvement the ESA people couldn't use the bits already worked on due to various patent agreements being with NASA.
      Result - splat - kind of expected for a first of it's kind lander instead of being able to build on earlier success.

    5. Re:For North Korea... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      For a cruise misile "hit the building we were aiming at and not the hospital next door" counts as "safe landing". Sadly even by that definition the US's cruise misiles rarely "land safely".

      That's assuming that they weren't aiming at the hospital, which is not a safe assumption.

      Even putting that aside, a drone should have an easier time landing on target than a missile.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  6. Easy link by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can check out what is publicly/globally available on github: https://github.com/nasa

    On their main software page, there is a LOT of stuff that is by request only but github is all the easy to get stuff.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Easy link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So not much really...

    2. Re:Easy link by hyades1 · · Score: 1

      I should add that "by request only" doesn't mean just asking. Here's what you agree to even for what is essentially a glorified graphing program:

      "By accessing and using this computer system, you are consenting to system monitoring, including the monitoring of keystrokes. Unauthorized use of, or access to, this computer system may subject you to disciplinary action and criminal prosecution."

      In saner times, I simply would have assumed this means they track keystrokes on their own system, which certainly isn't unreasonable. But they don't explicitly say that. Given the current environment, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the phrase "this computer system" applied only to the second sentence, while the first means you're agreeing to have your own system monitored.

      --
      I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  7. What does a company about to go under do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Release its shit for free a la open source it

    Seen it before, see it now, will see it again

    This is why TRUMP is a must to make America Great Again because if you ain't touchin dicks with a Russin you just ain't doin it right

  8. Any chance... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they could take some of the coders and tell them to make a proper fucking website. They have some nice stuff available but jeez.

    1. Re:Any chance... by Rei · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yeah, NASA has always been terrible at public outreach. Anyone ever seen the NASA TV channel? Just terrible. There's no excitement in anything they make for the public, despite the fact that they're working in one of the most exciting fields out there. Contrast with what SpaceX does, where each launch is almost like a sporting event, with "newscasters" and "commentators", screaming crowds, HD footage from multiple angles, etc. That's PR. And I doubt they're spending a fortune to do so, versus what everything else costs in rocketry.

      Perhaps the most exciting thing NASA does is their press conferences to announce findings (say, post-flyby preliminary results and the like). But I think only space geeks like myself can get excited about a NASA press conference.

      Some parts of the US federal government are good at PR: The military is an obvious one - they work closely with TV and movie producers to get them enthusiastic and supportive. They manage it top to bottom, wanting to see whole scripts in advance to make sure that they portray the military in a good light - and if they do, they get access to locations, hardware, troops, gear, almost anything. They even require producers to have a minder.... er... I'm sorry, "technical adviser", who follows them around and (strike)makes sure they make it positive like they promised(/strike)offers "helpful advice". It's a sleek operation of mutual exploitation, where the military gets free PR and recruiting, and the movie makers get taxpayer-funded hardware, locations and manpower.

      Not that NASA should go that far. But they should do a lot better than something with the quality of a late-night public access TV channel. They have amazing facilities, settings and people, and are doing exciting things. They should modernize their PR.

      --
      The big brain am winning again! I am the greetist! Now I am leaving for no particular raisin!
    2. Re:Any chance... by SpaceDave · · Score: 1

      SpaceX's broadcasts started out less watchable than a 12YO's Youtube channel but within a year had become slick and entertaining. NASA TV has improved somewhat over the years but still is nowhere as entertaining as it should be. I do feel for the folks at NASA though - their public outreach program suffers from underfunding and uncertainty so it's not entirely their fault.

  9. NASA...Serious intelligence by dougdonovan · · Score: 0

    now, if you guys at nasa could just adjust the heat in arizona to stay at a comfortable 85 degrees year around, i would be happy. thanks in advance.

    1. Re:NASA...Serious intelligence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is an international site. 85 degrees is way too hot, even for someone like myself who likes tropical heat (which is around 30-35 degrees).

    2. Re:NASA...Serious intelligence by Megane · · Score: 1

      It's also a little bit too warm for sous vide.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  10. free software by fermion · · Score: 1

    I remember the first time I had to deal with satellite telemetry. While I had to write code to process the data, I used GNUPlot for visualization. Saved a ton of time. Of course there is no free software. Someone pays for it, to someone donates the time. In government we pay for it, just like we pay for everything. This is why the freedom of information act makes so much sense, and should not be ignored arbitrarily. We pay for the work, and we have a right to know if and how that work is being done.

    --
    "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
  11. Oblig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is there a metric to imperial units conversion tool?

  12. Fancy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Woot! Now I'll finally get a decent score in Kerbal Space Program!

  13. 3d models by Gibgezr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Their collection of 3D models is nice: https://github.com/nasa/NASA-3...

  14. why no/poor docs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Someone who has developed and released software at NASA here..

    Your project funding was to develop software for your specific (typically niche) application to meet a fairly narrow need. You probably weren't funded to develop a system and build process for multiple platforms, complete design documentation, etc. It got the job done, everyone who funded you was happy, and now, you're willing to "throw it over the wall" to the public in essentially "use as is, where is" kind of thing.

    The other issue is one of actually doing the distribution - Once the software is done and delivered to your (internal) customer, you're off on another job, with a different charge number. 2 years from now, a request comes in for that software, and you have no charge number to go and scrounge up docs, run them through the required export controls and proprietary information reviews, make any changes needed, etc. Typically, the raw code is easier to review and get through the process, but the design docs may incorporate information that is export controlled, or incorporates proprietary information from a vendor. And even if it doesn't have that, it still needs the review to make sure it doesn't.

    And then, there's another one. A lot of this software is essentially "one-off" and the docs, software, change logs, etc. aren't necessarily consistent, or pretty, or something you'd be proud to show off to the world. So, combined with the lack of a charge number, the incentive for the original author to go through and "clean it all up" is starting to get pretty minimal.

  15. wishing for rant-free comments by cellocgw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is there even ONE slashdotter who's going to comment on the **contents** of the catalog instead of bitching about governments and copyright issues (of which they most likely know very little)?

    I'd be much more interested in reviews/ ratings of software tools for various tasks than in what NASA allegedly is or isn't keeping from the public.

    --
    https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    1. Re:wishing for rant-free comments by aberglas · · Score: 1

      I'd guess that the software would be invaluable if one happened to own a Martian rover...

      But most slash dotters just hack web sites for a living.

    2. Re:wishing for rant-free comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The tools in the catalog are generally going to be very unpolished, and at the same time extremely functional, though in a specific way. They aren't commercial, and that is the point of getting this software out there, to try and commercialise it.

  16. More resources... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://archive.org/details/NasaSpaceFoodLiveInterviews

  17. What Languages Does NASA Use? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would be great to find some well written NASA applications that can serve as examples for learning languages.
    Please let is know if you have found some gems in the NASA catalog.

    I was wondering what languages they used and found this interesting post:

    "Armstrong Flight Research Center uses C, C++, C#, Fortran, MATLAB, Python and other languages, based on their specific software requirements. Some of their software development involves legacy systems. Some of it involves spacecraft systems, and some of it involves ground control systems. The control rooms run custom software written in C, C++ and C#, running on Dell computers."
    "ADA is seldom used anywhere in the military-industrial complex anymore, probably at least in part due to the Ariane 5 accident. There's a wide variety of software development that takes place at NASA, some of which involves exotic embedded systems."
    From http://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/240294/what-language-do-companies-like-nasa-use-to-create-their-applications

    I'm suspicious of the second paragraph, that the Ariane 5 software bug resulted in ADA being used less, especially since the programmers had turned off ADA checking features for a critical variable. ADA is supposed to help write more reliable code. However, the code for the Mars explorers Spirit and Opportunity was written primarily in C.

    1. Re:What Languages Does NASA Use? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ADA stands for American Disabilities Act, American Dental Association etc.
      The Ada computer language is named after a person, Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace. How donyou refer to PASCAL? Actually named after Blaise Pascal. You don't know you computing history - do you?

    2. Re:What Languages Does NASA Use? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a piss ant!

    3. Re:What Languages Does NASA Use? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Ariane 5 accident was caused by using a 16 bit floating point number when a single precision number should have been used. The root cause of this was code reuse from the Ariane 4 rocket where a 16 bit number was fine.

      This had nothing to do with Ada, and everything to do with process.

  18. "[...] these software codes [...]" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Such a phrase could only be uttered by a foreigner or a willfully ignorant amateur coder (e.g., physicists, aerospace engineers, possibly EEs, etc.) This code may work (for some definition of the word, under undocumented ideal circumstances) but it is surely not production quality software you'd want to bet your money on. There's a reason these people need to be so smart, it's so they can fix each other's shitty, broken, unmaintainable FORTAN 77 code that can only be understood by the person who wrote it, and then only for a few weeks.