Space Robot Operating System (SpaceROS-ACO)

Blue Origin will collaborate with NASA Centers on a reusable, standardized and space-certifiable software framework prototype for space robotics. The framework is called Space Robot Operating System (Space ROS). The team will (1) perform system and mission requirement studies; (2) mature and demonstrate the software framework prototype for space robot and multi-robot systems; (3) verify and validate Space ROS software; (4) benchmark Space ROS; and (5) demonstrate the use of the framework as a bridge for robotic interoperability with the Blue Moon lander.

Space ROS is an open-source spacecraft flight software framework for developing robotic applications for space being developed by NASA, Open Robotics, Blue Origin, and other teams. It is designed to be platform independent, portable and project independent. Space ROS is a fork of the ROS 2 framework and conforms to the ROS 2 Application Programming Interface (API) that has been hardened to be compatible with the demands of safety-critical space robotics applications. The intent of Space ROS is to provide a robust framework for space robotic applications where ROS 2 applications can be reused with little to no modification, enabling the space community to take advantage of the innovation of the ROS community. This will shorten the time for development of novel space robotics capabilities, enable reuse of capabilities between missions, as well as lower the life-cycle cost of new robotic missions. Adoption of this framework will accelerate the development and deployment of new robotic applications for space and reduce the full life-cycle costs of future robotic systems.

Space ROS is a public-private partnership established to create a reusable, modular, and interoperable framework for space-qualifiable space robotic software. Our goals are to adapt and mature terrestrial open-source robotics software technology for space missions. Space ROS will do for space robotics what the Core Flight System (cFS) has done for spacecraft flight software. Starting with Robot Operating System 2 (ROS), our goals are to modify the open-source ROS 2 core software to align it with space software standards and space robotic needs, develop a “continuous qualification” approach that is compatible with software standards such as DO-178C and NASA NPR 7150.2C, and create a registry to facilitate reuse (inspired by DoD “ROS-M”). Space ROS will expand commercial and government robotic capabilities as well as opportunities in space. The technical advancement of the reusable software framework, and its availability to commercial and government partners, will reduce life-cycle costs of space-certified robots.

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