Exploring what “open” could mean for humanity’s future in space.
Inspired by open source software, hardware, datasets, and AI, OSF asks whether openness could one day apply to space tech—spaceships, habitats, robotics, materials—and help lower barriers to getting into space?
Open Space Federation is a forward-looking, open-ended initiative inspired by the success of open source software, open hardware, open datasets, and open scientific collaboration.
We ask a simple but profound question:
If openness transformed computing, could it also transform space?
Today we already have:
- Open source software
- Open hardware & PCB designs
- Open robotics platforms
- Open datasets & scientific models
- Open AI systems
- Open brain-computer interface research
OSF explores whether similar principles could one day apply to space-related technologies, including:
- Spacecraft and habitat design concepts
- Materials research and simulation
- Robotics for off-world construction
- AI-assisted mission planning and engineering
- Autonomous systems for hostile environments (Moon, Mars, asteroids)
- Long-term human survival beyond Earth
Not as blueprints for tomorrow — but as shared starting points for decades ahead.
Imagine someday in future we may be able to download even 'open spaceship designs', the way we can currently download open hardware designs?
Space remains one of the highest-barrier domains on Earth:
- Extreme cost
- Closed designs
- Proprietary research
- Limited participation
History shows that openness:
- Lowers entry barriers
- Accelerates innovation
- Enables unexpected contributors
- Improves robustness through iteration
OSF asks whether openness could eventually help:
- Democratize space research
- Improve safety and redundancy
- Enable faster iteration of ideas
- Prepare humanity for a long-term off-planet future
AI changes what’s possible:
- Rapid simulation and optimization
- Materials discovery
- Design exploration at massive scale
- Autonomous robotics and planning
OSF sees AI as a multiplier for open space research — enabling small teams, individuals, and future generations to contribute meaningfully.
OSF is not a political organization.
It is closer to an informal movement or shared ideal:
- Rational optimism
- Scientific openness
- Long-term thinking
- Peaceful exploration
- A future where humanity expands knowledge before power
You could call it quietly Star-Trek-adjacent — without uniforms, flags, or dogma.
This repository is:
- A conceptual hub
- A place for ideas, discussions, and experiments
- A seed, not a manifesto
It is not:
- A space agency
- A startup pitch
- A claim to authority
- A promise of feasibility today
Early. Experimental. Intentionally incomplete.
If openness built the modern internet, maybe it can help build humanity’s future beyond Earth.
Grounded in ideals of reason, and a peaceful future exploring space. If we are also about to cure aging, then we may live to see such a future.
Initiated by David Joffe 2026