NASA will update its reusable flight software within the year, according to Ashok Prajapati, core Flight System, or cFS, program manager at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
A steering committee established a three-year road map for NASA cFS 2.0, which will include new features supporting all future missions, Prajapati told SpaceNews on Monday. The upcoming software bump will offer plug-and-play capabilities for in-space robotics, cybersecurity, distributed computing, spacecraft autonomy and onboard machine learning, he added.
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Benefits of cFS Software
Prajapati said his office is working with other NASA centers to integrate high-performance space computing, which focuses on next-generation flight computing, and cFS. He urged people to skip building their flight software and use NASA’s offering instead to save on costs and avoid potential defects.
Government and Open-Source Versions
The space agency will roll out a government-only version of NASA cFS in the second half of 2025 with enhanced security, artificial intelligence, robotics support and autonomy features. Companies working on NASA instruments, payloads, rovers, landers, balloons and unmanned aircraft will be given access to the software.
NASA will then deploy the open-source version of cFS, which will support several key projects, including small satellites, NASA Artemis, lunar Gateway, Mars Sample Return and the Roman Space Telescope.