The development and use of open-source spacecraft simulation and control software for education and research

Open-source software offers key advantages to space systems simulation, design and operations. Mission timelines can span decades, potentially outlasting the lifetime of commercial applications and companies. By contrast, open-source software has the benefit that engineers can inspect the source code to maintain and make modifications as necessary. Educators and students gain the ability to teach and learn how to perform space simulation. To these ends, an open-source, extensible spacecraft simulation and modeling (Open-SESSAME) framework is developed with the aim of providing to engineers the capability to quickly simulate and test satellite algorithms while allowing them to view and extend the underlying code. The software is distributed under an open-source license and is free to use and modify. This work presents the purpose and considerations behind the development of the framework, the software design architecture and implementation, and a roadmap of the future for the software package.