The Role of Open-Source in Building Space Technologies
By Seda Hewitt
It wasnât long ago that space tech felt locked behind sealed doorsâgovernments, 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 quietlyâand now increasinglyâbecome a foundational piece in how modern space technologies are built.
At first glance, that sounds risky. Space is high-stakes. Itâs expensive. Itâs complex. Why would anyone trust shared, openly developed code or hardware designs to run in such an unforgiving environment?
But, as Iâve seen in our work at Interstellar Communication Holdings Inc. in the United States, the question isnât really why anymore. Itâs how far can it go?
Open-Source: A Quick Reintroduction
To be clear, âopen-sourceâ doesnât just mean free software. It means anyone can access, use, study, modify, and distribute it. Itâs about transparency and collaborationâvalues that feel surprisingly at home in space, where no single entity can solve everything alone.
And itâs 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 HADESâICM 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 arenât untested hacks. Theyâre 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 anyoneâfrom university students to national agenciesâto track, receive, and share satellite data.
Why does that matter?
Because small satellite operators, like us, often canât afford a global ground station network. But with SatNOGS, weâve received signal reports from Indonesia, Poland, Brazilâall using hardware built by volunteers and connected by open-source software.
Itâs a win-win. We get telemetry. The community gets involved. Everyone learns.
Reducing Cost, Not Quality
Thereâs a myth that open-source means âcheap and cheerful.â But in space, that doesnât 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.
Weâve used open-source PCB layouts, communication protocols, and thermal modeling tools. Not because we had no choiceâbut because they were good. Really good.
Innovation Through Collaboration
Open-source doesnât just save time. It accelerates innovation.
Letâs 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. Thatâs not a theory. Itâs already happening.
At Interstellar Communication Holdings Inc., weâve learned that the best ideas often come from unexpected places. Thatâs why we contribute back when we canâcode patches, feedback, bug reports. Itâs not a favor. Itâs 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. Itâs an event that draws together people from all over the world, in all kinds of sectorsânot just to celebrate, but to connect.
And thatâs exactly what open-source is about: connection. A distributed network of minds, solving problems together, across boundaries.
In some ways, itâs the same spirit, just applied differently. Whether you're sharing launchpads or Git repositories, the goal is the sameâdo more, together, than we could alone.
Weâre proud to be part of that movement, and part of that global conversation.
Itâs Not Perfect, But Itâs Real
Open-source doesnât 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 maybeâjust maybeâa more resilient one too.
Final Thoughts
Space used to be closed off. Secretive. Elitist, even.
Now, with open-source, itâs becoming participatory.
Anyone with a laptop, an idea, and some patience can contribute to space missions. Thatâs powerful. Thatâs democratizing. And itâs happening right now.
If youâre building something in space, odds are youâre already standing on the shoulders of open-source. The only question left is: what will you give back?


















