NASA has released a software catalog of more
than 1,000 apps available free to the public. A PDF version is available online and a printed version will follow on May 21.
Software comprises about a third of the
innovations developed by NASA each year. The agency’s goal is to get its software
to as many people as possible.
“Traditionally, our [apps] were distributed
at different offices and labs around the country, so we needed to gather
everything in one place,” Daniel Lockney, manager of the NASA technology
transfer program, told Information Week Government.
“We’re excited about the potential of this catalog because of how valuable it
can be.”
Each app has been assigned a tag that shows
the software release authority (SRA) to contact to acquire the item. Users then
must request the item by email using the case-number prefix.
While most of the software is scientific in
nature, there could be an application or two that would be of interest for
collegiate retailers. But truth be told, it’s just kind of neat to browse.