The Generalized Support Software Domain Engineering Process: An Object-Oriented Implementation and Reuse Success at Goddard Space Flight Center

The Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) recently embarked on a far-reaching revision of its process for developing, reusing, and maintaining satellite support software. The new process relies on an object-oriented software development method supported by a domain specific library of generalized components, coded in Ada83. This Generalized Support Software (GSS) Domain Engineering Process is currently in use at the NASA GSFC Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL). The key facets of the GSS process are (1) an architecture for rapid deployment of FDD applications, (2) a reuse asset library of Ada 83 classes for supporting spacecraft attitude (i.e. orientation in space), and (3) a paradigm shift from developing software to configuring software for mission support. This paper: (1) details the GSS goals, architecture, and process; (2) recounts the library investment costs and the initial application configuration costs; and (3) summarizes the lessons learned and future directions.