[amsat-bb] AMSAT Open Source Policy

[Bruce Perens]

On Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 1:51 PM Stephen DeVience via AMSAT-BB <amsat-.

> I can see negatives as well
> 1) Manufacturers of space-rated hardware may want certain aspects kept
> private, and it might not be possible to easily find or make an open-source
> replacement. How extensive is the ITAR carve-out? If you use just one
> proprietary component, does that take you out of the carve-out?
>

It depends. If it is a black box and you interface to it as an open
protocol, you don't have proprietary data - which is the ITAR trigger. If
you have to enter into NDAs, etc., you will need to establish an ITAR
project within the larger ITAR-free organization. Frankly, I don't see that
it will often be worthwhile to do this, simply because the administrative
overhead is so much higher. However if it is very technically desirable,
establishing a compartmentalised project is eminently possible.

We did this for Phase 4. You remember that Bob McGwier and Michelle were
major technical leads on Phase 4, and the original concepts of the project
included things that I suggested to Rich Hambly in 2007. I remained a
contributor to the project. The amateur part of satellite was an ITAR
compartmentalized project, the ground station was Open Source.  My
understanding is that FEMA got screwed over by a vendor, and then our
friend the FEMA director left during and administration change or
something, and we never got the satellite.

Development of Phase 4 continues at ORI, with both sides Open Source. ORI
is an AMSAT member organization. This is our band-aid for AMSAT being
uncomfortable with Open Source and not yet having an appropriate policy.

2) It may force AMSAT to abandon long-standing relationships (whatever's in
> those NDAs), which could greatly affect ongoing projects.
>

Keep the old stuff as ITAR compartmentalized until it's over, if that
matters. The fact is we have not been launching all that much and it is
hard to see from here where are those critical partnerships would be.

This is not entirely an either-or situation. Nobody is asking AMSAT to jump
off a cliff.

Thanks

Bruce