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Young Scientists Design Open-Source Program at NASA
wired.com — NASA scientists plan to announce a new open-source project this month called CosmosCode, it's aimed at recruiting volunteers to write code for live space missions.
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- alanflores, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27awesome.. can i write the code to send an email notification when a rocket engine fails?
- ihaveplans, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3I don't know, but I heard the next generation of Mars rovers will have Twitter accounts.
- threepio, on 10/12/2007, -20/+6Hey alan:
/golfclap.
Congratulations, you've made a great effort to besmirch the effort of an agency that's brought countless innovations earthside thanks to the hardwork and sacrifice of many. Incidently, you're a dick - these people work hard. ***** happens. Call me when you contribute even a fraction of what NASA does, mmmkay? - graystar, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Yep, so long as I can include a tetris clone for the astronauts.
- fkr3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12This is what open source is really about .... getting someone else to do something for you for free.
NASA only gets billions of dollars from the government. - Murfshay22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Seems cool... as long as no one forgets a decimal or some mundane detail...
- LGgeek, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1@alanflores
ROFLOL :-) - FelixdaaHack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Will they code in Mindstorms lego block script?
- pak314, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Warning: lp0 on fire!
- alanflores, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@threepio
if i will get a dollar for every sense of humor you dont have, i'll get a dollar.
- kevin45, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Does this mean rockets will fade in and out on launch and its compartments will open in accordion style fashion? Don't forget community voting on which rocket designs we like the most.
- TheRealPod, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Why not go all the way and put digg in control? We'd end up with a shuttle full of strippers digging into the mars "face" for aliens.
- trevbork, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4Woopdeedoo.
- fuzzmeister, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Of all things to make open source...
- threepio, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Why not? Would you rather have the opportunity for peer reviewed code on that 1.2 Billion dollar satellite... or would you rather that an unassuming spelling error sends it spiraling into the sun?
- Frost9999, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8This is a great idea. Some people out there will learn to code with the goal of contributing to an exciting project. If it gets a few people motivated about doing something that aids science then I'm all for it.
- Tebixan, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9seriously, NASA has their own contracted programming company working out of Houston that's been writing the code for every American space mission for 20 years. They don't make mistakes. No we're going to put billions of dollars of taxpayer money and the lives of our astronauts in the hands of volunteers doing this in their spare time?
- hockey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10@threepio.
I'm all for peer review and I love open source software. However this is NASA we are talking about. There is a chance that eventually people's lives will depend on this software initiative (it may not now).
I hope that the peer review process will not only weed out errors like that but also un-professional code and coding standards. If I were an astronaut whose life depended on the software I wouldn't want comments like "including this here because c++ is gay" floating around in the code (yes I have seen this before). - paulgb, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8tebixan: As strange as it may seem, dedicated volunteers have proven again and again that they are more capable than private companies. Look at Linux, Apache, and so many other open source apps used constantly in mission-critical environments.
- 0crabby0, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2The best thing NASA could make open source would be the Hubble telescope - some sort of screen saver like SETI@home that stores partial duplicate images for Hubble. Say 250mb per hardrive?
NASA spent $$$ for a building at Goddard Space Flight Center just for image archiving
Hubble's operation is monitored 24 hours per day by four teams of flight controllers who make up Hubble's Flight Operations Team.
That's a lot of money just for support and archives... - fkr3, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2@ paulgb - exceptions don't make a rule. Some groups of dedicated volunteers do amazing things, most do nothing of any consequence.
- nighttrain2007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@tebixan
I'd rather put it in the hands of 'volunteers' than hacks that have been living off the government dole for decades. Hopefully these 'volunteers' have actually produced something viable instead of wasting my tax dollars. That being said, NASA shouldn't be looking for 'volunteers'. Other than to help them drag their equipment out in the street before the offices are sold off for a profit. Turn the venture over to private industry instead. - generalloy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"@ paulgb - exceptions don't make a rule. Some groups of dedicated volunteers do amazing things, most do nothing of any consequence."
Let's just ignore NASA errors now, right? *cough Mars Global Surveyor*
And how about how many Linux programmers are paid? http://lwn.net/Articles/222773/ Did you know that almost all people who code on OpenOffice are Sun and Novell employees?
/waits for you to chime in with some excuse - tech42er, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@generalloy
It's not just Sun employees and the community?
- paulgb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9NASA and SecondLife in the same article? I didn't see that one coming.
- pauliusuza, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8That code will not be mission critical.
- DrScott, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Er. Vandalism?
- morpo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Wow. I never thought I would see so many diggers opposed (or at least questioning) something being open-source.
- kurtwinter, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I got an idea - why don't they hire people to write code, and possibly, pay them? This, being America, and to quote Jack Nicholson's performance in "The Departed", "In this country, you bring the money, and we bring the merchandise".
- kevin45, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yeah, but being full on closed source doesn't add inches to your dick. For some programmers its a life sentence.
- TheRealPod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The whole thing is a little silly. NASA has been publishing full codes for over 20 years. I guess it's good to main-stream it.
- mutatron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1THIS JUST IN: Young scientists design open-source program at US Department of Defense.
DoD scientists plan to announce a new open-source project this month called DefenseScript, it's aimed at recruiting volunteers to write code for live combat systems. Details soon to be made available over the Internets...
...Hang on, incoming...
BREAKING: Young scientists design open-source program at US Central Intelligence Agency.
CIA scientists plan to announce a new open-source project this month called SecretCode, it's aimed at recruiting volunteers to write code for live covert intelligence gathering systems. More on this later... - cuoops, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1here's the page - http://colab.arc.nasa.gov/cosmoscode
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