[대덕포럼] Open source landing on Mars :: Daejeon Ilbo

On February 18, NASA succeeded in landing Perseverance, the first Mars specimen collection probe, on Mars. Perciviarence, an exploration vehicle that left Earth last July and flew 470 million km, is expected to search for traces of life on Mars for at least two years and collect samples of Mars soil. Meanwhile, SpaceX, led by Tesla’s Elon Musk, announced plans to take civilians on a Starship spacecraft to travel to and from the moon within two years and finally send an expedition to Mars.

What is noteworthy here is that the use of open source software is increasing when performing such aerospace projects. In fact, the software operating system (OS) used for the probe’s Perience, which landed on Mars this time, was developed based on Linux. In addition, Linux was also installed in the Mars exploration helicopter Ingenuity, which was launched together, and it uses an open source-based flight system software framework technology called fprime that is being released on GitHub. SpaceX is also known to be equipped with open source Linux as a system operating system.

Existing space probes have mostly used dedicated operating systems for reasons such as stability, but recently, as the functions and quality of open source software have improved significantly, their introduction is also expanding in the aerospace field. In 2016, there was a case where Hitomi, a Japanese science satellite, failed due to a malfunction, and the cause was found to be a software error. The recent innovation of software technology is centered on open source, where collective intelligence and the power of cooperation are exerted, and in particular, it is making great contributions to R&D innovation in the field of science and technology, including information and communication technology (ICT).

NASA has been releasing software it has been developing for research and development for a long time. So far, more than 1000 pieces of software have been released. And currently, about 572 software is released as open source. This means that cooperative development and the use of external competencies are important.

ETRI, a leading government-funded researcher in Korea’s ICT field, is also recently reinforcing open source-based R&D, and its utilization reaches 70%, and dozens of R&D projects are released as open source every year. In 2020, 22 projects, including artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, network, neuromorphic, and power, will be open sourced through GitHub, a representative web hosting service. I have disclosed it. This is part of a government-funded researcher’s plan to promote innovation by expanding private participation in software under development. As a result, key research achievements are expected to help SMEs expand opportunities for new business creation.

The use of open source software will further accelerate innovation in the era of’digital transformation’, which is the biggest feature of the 4th industrial revolution. Now, open source does not simply take open source, but can provide a living platform and ecosystem based on a virtuous cycle that creates profits for both developers and companies. Furthermore, it can be said to be a very important momentum in that it is an opportunity to strengthen Korea’s software technology competitiveness. In the future, revitalization of government R&D activities in connection with various open source community activities is expected to contribute to the creation of an autonomous open source ecosystem.

In particular, the recently revised software promotion law includes’activation of open software development methods’ along with’national R&D promotion to secure SW technology competitiveness as a result of national R&D The importance of the source is also being emphasized. After all, I think that open source is a core competency for realizing open innovation in the existing R&D culture, and one of the values ​​we should aim for. Seungyoon Lee Head of ETRI Open Source Center