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Intro

The term Flight-Software (FSW) refers to the software which is executed by computers on-board spacecrafts, its main goal is to control the spacecraft and all its subsystems during the whole mission.

Note

Flight-Software usually abbreviated as FSW, is also known as: On-Board Software, Avionics Software or Satellite Control Software.

This software is different and unique for each spacecraft, because each mission has different goals and requirements, usually it is a very complex system,that involves many functionalities and interfaces.There is not a rigorous way to design and implement the flight-software, and this process requires important efforts and resources which need to be considered beforehand.

Developing flight-software is challenging under any circumstances, and especially difficult for beginners. Newcomer developers are often faced with creating FSW with no prior training and no advisors or experts to consult. This website offers introductory material and guidance to help understand how to start, design, implement, test, and define the scope of the FSW.

Get start by learning about:

Introductory

Software Engineering

Frameworks

Books

  • "Onboard Computers, Onboard Software and Satellite Operations" by Eickhoff
  • “Handbook of Free and Open Space Standards.” by The LibreCube Initiative
  • "State-of-the-Art: Small Spacecraft Technology" by NASA

Standards

  • Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS)
  • European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS)

  1. Robert Bocchino, Timothy Canham, Garth Watney, Leonard Reder, and Jeffrey Levison. F Prime: An Open-Source Framework for Small-Scale Flight Software Systems. In Proceedings of the AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites. Logan, Utah, USA, August 2018. Utah State University. URL: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/smallsat/2018/all2018/328/. ↩