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12. Make new source code open

Make all new source code open and reusable, and publish it under appropriate licences. Or if this isn’t possible, provide a convincing explanation of why this can’t be done for specific subsets of the source code.

Write code in the open from the start, and publish it in an open repository - minus any sensitive information, like secret keys and credentials

  • All code is stored and published on the USKA GitHub.
  • We have 3 repositories, 1 public and 2 currently private.
  • We are undertaking the work to make all of our repositories public.
  • GDS patterns and components have been used throughout.
  • All design decisions have been documented and shared on the public tech docs site for all stakeholders to view.

Keep ownership of the intellectual property of new source code that’s created as part of the service, and make it available for reuse under an open licence

  • Intellectual property of Monitor Space Hazards belongs to UKSA.

There are a few cases when you should not publish code in the open. For example, code that relates to a sensitive government policy that hasn’t been announced yet.

  • At the moment UKSA has not yet decided whether it wants to use Monitor Space Hazards as a soft power tool to work with other national space agencies. If it did, it may want to keep some source code private.
  • We are also taking action to understand the limits of our agreements with Space-Track and ESA DISCOS which might reduce our freedoms.
This page was last reviewed on 7 December 2022. It needs to be reviewed again on 7 June 2023 .
This page was set to be reviewed before 7 June 2023. This might mean the content is out of date.