The Role of Open-Source in Building Space Technologies
By Seda Hewitt
It wasn’t long ago that space tech felt locked behind sealed doors—governments, contractors, and corporations working in high-security labs, often in total isolation. But if you look closely today, something quite different is happening.
Open-source has quietly—and now increasingly—become a foundational piece in how modern space technologies are built.
At first glance, that sounds risky. Space is high-stakes. It’s expensive. It’s complex. Why would anyone trust shared, openly developed code or hardware designs to run in such an unforgiving environment?
But, as I’ve seen in our work at Interstellar Communication Holdings Inc. in the United States, the question isn’t really why anymore. It’s how far can it go?
Open-Source: A Quick Reintroduction
To be clear, “open-source” doesn’t just mean free software. It means anyone can access, use, study, modify, and distribute it. It’s about transparency and collaboration—values that feel surprisingly at home in space, where no single entity can solve everything alone.
And it’s not limited to code. In space tech, open-source includes:
Flight software
Ground station software
Antenna designs
Satellite bus schematics
Tracking databases
RF protocol libraries
All of it developed, iterated, and often deployed by a distributed community of engineers, students, scientists, and just… curious minds.
Building on Shared Foundations
Let me be honest: no small satellite team builds from scratch. Not anymore.
In our PocketQube work with the HADES‑ICM mission, for instance, open-source played a role in how we prototyped signal processing, how we tested antenna tuning, and even how we logged beacon telemetry.
Libraries like GNU Radio, ground station tools like SatNOGS, and even parts of our onboard software owe their roots to open repositories. These aren’t untested hacks. They’re robust, widely used, and often stress-tested by thousands of people worldwide.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, we spent more time fine-tuning what matters most to us.
A Case Study: SatNOGS
SatNOGS is a community-built, open-source global network of satellite ground stations. It allows anyone—from university students to national agencies—to track, receive, and share satellite data.
Why does that matter?
Because small satellite operators, like us, often can’t afford a global ground station network. But with SatNOGS, we’ve received signal reports from Indonesia, Poland, Brazil—all using hardware built by volunteers and connected by open-source software.
It’s a win-win. We get telemetry. The community gets involved. Everyone learns.
Reducing Cost, Not Quality
There’s a myth that open-source means “cheap and cheerful.” But in space, that doesn’t hold up. Open-source projects are often maintained by incredibly skilled engineers. Some are volunteers. Others work at companies that support open development.
And because the code is visible, bugs get caught. Design flaws are discussed. There's accountability in the open.
We’ve used open-source PCB layouts, communication protocols, and thermal modeling tools. Not because we had no choice—but because they were good. Really good.
Innovation Through Collaboration
Open-source doesn’t just save time. It accelerates innovation.
Let’s say someone in Argentina develops a better way to manage low-power sleep cycles in a CubeSat. If they publish that method, someone in South Korea can adopt it. Then a team in Ghana builds on it to support their own Earth-observation satellite. That’s not a theory. It’s already happening.
At Interstellar Communication Holdings Inc., we’ve learned that the best ideas often come from unexpected places. That’s why we contribute back when we can—code patches, feedback, bug reports. It’s not a favor. It’s how the whole system gets stronger.
A Place at the Global Table
This November, Interstellar Communication Holdings Inc. will participate as a nominee at the 2025 Go Global Awards, hosted by the International Trade Council in London. It’s an event that draws together people from all over the world, in all kinds of sectors—not just to celebrate, but to connect.
And that’s exactly what open-source is about: connection. A distributed network of minds, solving problems together, across boundaries.
In some ways, it’s the same spirit, just applied differently. Whether you're sharing launchpads or Git repositories, the goal is the same—do more, together, than we could alone.
We’re proud to be part of that movement, and part of that global conversation.
It’s Not Perfect, But It’s Real
Open-source doesn’t eliminate all problems. There can be licensing confusion, maintenance gaps, fragmented forks. And sometimes, things just… break.
But in space, failure is expected. What matters is how you recover, how you learn, how you iterate.
Open-source offers a faster loop for that. A more transparent one. And maybe—just maybe—a more resilient one too.
Final Thoughts
Space used to be closed off. Secretive. Elitist, even.
Now, with open-source, it’s becoming participatory.
Anyone with a laptop, an idea, and some patience can contribute to space missions. That’s powerful. That’s democratizing. And it’s happening right now.
If you’re building something in space, odds are you’re already standing on the shoulders of open-source. The only question left is: what will you give back?