Mission Statement - space-station-os/space_station_os GitHub Wiki

Space Station OS (SSOS) is an open-source platform built on ROS 2 to unify the development, simulation, and real-time control of modular space station subsystems. It enables autonomous behavior across power, life support, guidance, communication, and mission control domains — treating the space station as both a smart habitat and a robotics platform.

SSOS draws inspiration from how ROS transformed robotics development: by shifting from siloed, expert-only systems to a global, collaborative ecosystem powered by shared tools and reusable software. Today, ROS 2 is the world’s most widely used robotics middleware — and SSOS aims to bring the same open development model to space infrastructure.

By modularizing each core function and integrating them through standardized ROS 2 interfaces, SSOS achieves:

  • Flexibility: Add or modify subsystems through software, even post-deployment
  • Reusability: Design once, reuse across simulations, tests, and missions
  • Scalability: Grow from basic simulations to flight-ready autonomy

SSOS also embraces the software-defined space station concept — enabling remote updates, system evolution, and fault-tolerant behaviour in long-duration space missions. Its architecture supports future collaboration across countries and organisations to create an interoperable, sustainable space station ecosystem.

While SSOS does not develop physical hardware, its standardised interfaces are designed to work with future flight systems, research simulators, and hardware-in-the-loop testbeds.

In short: SSOS lowers the barrier to building smart space infrastructure, making space station software development accessible, extensible, and open to all.

STRATEGY

SSOS adopts a simulation-first strategy as a deliberate and pragmatic approach to building flight-relevant autonomy under real-world constraints.

In space robotics, flight opportunities are inherently scarce, costly, and difficult to control from a development planning perspective. While flight demonstrations are essential, making them a prerequisite for architectural progress creates a fragile development model that depends more on external timing than on technical readiness.

Our strategy is therefore to treat simulation as the primary environment for capability growth.

By continuously expanding SSOS through high-fidelity simulations, digital twins, and system-level scenarios, we can:

  • Mature subsystem interactions and system-of-systems behavior
  • Validate initialization sequences, failure propagation, and recovery logic
  • Accumulate reusable, mission-agnostic capabilities independent of flight access

Flight opportunities are actively pursued, but they are not assumed. When concrete mission requirements emerge, SSOS components are designed to be extracted, adapted, and integrated efficiently, leveraging the accumulated simulation results rather than starting from scratch.

In this sense, simulation is not a substitute for flight. It is a mechanism for building readiness in advance, so that flight becomes an application of proven capabilities rather than an exploratory gamble.

This strategy allows SSOS to remain technically productive, architecturally coherent, and resilient to uncertainty, while keeping a clear path toward real mission deployment.

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

(Updated Feb. 2026)

SSOS follows a phased, capability-driven roadmap toward flight-relevant autonomy, while explicitly acknowledging the uncertainty and limited controllability of near-term flight opportunities. Rather than gating progress on flight access, the project prioritizes simulation-first development and system-level demonstrations that can later be adapted to concrete missions.

Phase 1: Foundation and Readiness (2024–2025)

Phase 1 established the technical and architectural baseline of SSOS.

During this phase, we built a modular ROS 2–based framework for space station subsystems and released the project publicly as open source. The focus was on defining stable interfaces, core control logic, and system observability, while validating subsystem behaviors through ground-based proofs of concept. This phase provided the minimum viable foundation required to reason about SSOS as a system of systems, rather than a collection of independent modules.

Phase 2: Capability Expansion via Simulation (2025–2026)

We are currently in Phase 2.

In this phase, SSOS functionality is expanded primarily through simulation-based development. The goal is to demonstrate system-level behaviors, such as initialization sequencing, fault propagation, recovery logic, and operational coordination, without relying on immediate flight opportunities.

By emphasizing high-fidelity simulations, digital twins, and repeatable scenarios, Phase 2 allows the project to mature technically while remaining resilient to external constraints. This approach treats simulation not as a substitute for flight, but as a deliberate mechanism to accumulate validated capabilities that can later be extracted and reused.

Phase 3: Flight-Representative Demonstration (2026–2027)

Phase 3 focuses on building flight-representative demonstrations.

Using accumulated simulation assets and system-level behaviors developed in earlier phases, SSOS aims to demonstrate realistic operational scenarios that closely resemble flight conditions. These demonstrations are intended to be flight-adaptable, meaning that individual components or behaviors can be selectively extracted once concrete mission requirements become available.

This phase serves as a bridge between abstract system development and mission-specific application.

Phase 4: Flight Application (Opportunistic)

Phase 4 is intentionally defined as opportunistic.

Rather than assuming guaranteed flight access, this phase activates when suitable flight opportunities arise. At that point, SSOS-derived components, already validated through simulation and system-level demonstrations, can be tailored to mission-specific constraints, reducing development risk and lead time.

In this sense, flight is treated as an outcome of accumulated readiness, not a prerequisite for progress.