NASA has launched an open-source portal to make it easier for agencies to evaluate and improve upon its projects. The initial setup works as a simple directory of open-sourced projects in development, which is hoped to expand into a platform for tracking, hosting and planning the various pieces of software created by the American space agency.

The site is currently in alpha, but ought to become more accessible over the new few weeks.

On the one hand this is indicative of how hard-up for resources the agency is, that it’s finally turning to the public for non-monetary support; on the other, the ideological shift in the nature of space research implicit in a move towards open-source development is arguably pretty exciting. Space is for everybody now.

In its current form, the site provides info and resources for people hoping to avail themselves of the agency’s open source bounty, and future updates will include forums, tools, and other resources to aid the goal of building ‘tomorrow’s space and science systems… in the open.’

All of which sounds pretty neat – especially bearing in mind that America is currently relying on Soyuz spacecraft to get to the International Space Station until such time as they can get manned commercial vehicles off the ground and into orbit.

[Source: The Verge, NASA]