NASA has announced the release of its 2017-2018 software catalog, boasting hundreds of offerings for public use without copyright or royalty fees. The catalog offers software for applications ranging from turbine design to project management, and is intended for users ranging from entrepreneurs to aerospace engineers. It can be accessed at https://software.nasa.gov/.
The release is part of the Technology Transfer program’s mission to make patented NASA technologies available for commercial use, as well as to develop technologies advancing healthcare, space exploration, manufacturing, and other sectors.
The first edition of NASA’s software catalog was published in April of 2014. NASA is the first federal agency to release its patented software for open use by institutions, businesses, and engineers. The catalog includes software that can be used for project management, turbine propulsion monitoring, data servers processing and handling.
The end of the catalog refers to other NASA resources like the Spinoff publication, which lists examples of commercialized NASA technologies. More than 2,000 technologies that spun off from NASA’s research can be explored at spinoff.nasa.gov.
The catalog has 15 chapters, each contributing 10 to 50 offerings for use in different industries. Each software choice includes an access code and has its availability listed, which may range from open source to restricted for use by U.S. institutions or government agencies. The 15 categories include some of the fastest-growing sectors, including autonomous systems and propulsion technologies. The software also target environmental sciences, electronics, data storage, global positioning and operations, STEM awareness, materials handling in parts manufacturing, and mechanical simulation.
The final pages of the catalog include information for high-tech entrepreneurs to apply for NASA grants and secure intellectual property rights. NASA also announced the opening of its PubSpace open journal access last April.