Several of the internet's pioneers have recently become space exploration pioneers as well. Key players from Microsoft, PayPal, Amazon, id Software, and the Ubuntu Foundation are now actively involved in various aspects of the space industry. It is not just these internet entrepreneurs who are bringing changes to the space community, though. Free and open source software is increasingly being used by and created for various aspects of space exploration and research.

This talk will provide an overview of the current state of the open source space software community, including software released under NASA's open source agreement (NOSA) license, and will also provide some thoughts about where the community is going from here. This talk will also discuss some of the legal issues, specifically export controls, that could possibly halt the spread of this movement. Because of the potential military applications of many aspects of peaceful space efforts, the open source space software community needs to be aware of issues relating to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and other regulations.