OpenC3

OpenC3 is the company behind COSMOS, an open-source command and control platform for hardware that provides hardware interface and orchestration from integration and test through launch, mission operations and de-orbit. COSMOS was first written in 2004 by Ryan Melton and Jason Thomas inside Ball Aerospace to control a payload during integration, was released by Ball as open source and spread as the de facto hardware console for satellite integration and test, and the two founders later spun out OpenC3 to give it a dedicated home with full-time engineering and a commercial path. The platform has 20 years of use, TRL-9 status and more than 50 missions behind it, with customer logos including NASA, General Atomics, Ball Aerospace, Rogue Space, Sandia National Laboratories, Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Space and the US Space Force.

COSMOS

• Hardware integration, telemetry and commanding, Script Runner, limits and alerts, dashboards, logging and replay, plugins and an OpenC3 Store, with 50 or more plugins planned by the end of 2026
• Test campaign automation in plain Ruby or Python, telemetry decommutation at line rate and same-day time to first packet
• One configuration carried from board bring-up and box-level testing through bus and payload checkout and mission rehearsal into operations, with no tool swap or rewrite
• Support for every major bus and ground station vendor, MAVLink for drones and UxV systems, and applications in home automation, robotics and manufacturing

Editions and services

• COSMOS Core, free and open source under the OpenC3 Builder's License, with public documentation and an active community, plus programmes for open-source users and universities
• COSMOS Enterprise for programmes of record with clustering, multi-user support, SSO, RBAC, audit, FIPS-ready encryption, advanced logging and monitoring, a scheduling and automation engine and 24/7 support, with no seat, node or network limits
• Engineering services from board bring-up through mission operations, training and certification that produce COSMOS specialists, priority support with direct access to core developers, and an annual COSMOS Mini-Con with workshops at the Space Software Summit

Approach

OpenC3 says it was built by engineers who have been on console at T-minus, that every feature exists because a mission needed it, and that the same engine the primes fly is free and open for builders from their first launch to their hundredth. It offers live demonstrations on real hardware and responds to enquiries within one business day.

Shows

OpenC3 appears in the exhibitor lists of the Small Satellite Conference 2027 and SATELLITE 2027.

Contact

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