Contact Letter for companies/agencies/communities

[elpiel]

Proposal:

Hello,
My name is Lachezar and I am a software engineer (Linkedin).
I personally think that there is a lot of interest in aerospace lately and that's why on 2 Jan 2020 we've started a new community & working group called ÄroRust.

ÄroRust is an Aerospace and Rust (the programming language) community & working group with the goal to help and push the Open-source community even more into the growing Aerospace industry, by providing information, materials, tools, crates, etc. to industry leaders and hobbyists alike.

We already have a big interest from a mixture of people (300+ people in Discord) spanning different areas and expertise including engineers and developers, and people working or that have worked on aerospace-related projects.

We believe that we have to start a discussion with various entities from the start and probably most of us understand that there are many hurdles that we have to overcome and firmly believe that Open-source will accelerate many other areas, not only the aerospace industry. Whether this would be aerospace hobbyist projects, the embedded world of Rust, unmanned aerial vehicles, Safety-critical systems in general, etc.

A concern that you might have is probably why should you spend resources on such an endeavour at all. The short answer is that the mere fact of doing this will help by building an ecosystem that is purely open-source and cost-efficient as many others can join exposing themselves to the project you are engaged with. On the other hand, there will are countless opportunities for collaboration with other companies and organizations which can further reduce the cost of development and increase deliverability.

Another great aspect of all this is that the environment is a perfect incubator for finding great talents that are passionate in this field. This creates a unique opportunity for hiring employees, supporting contributors and maintainers of Open-source software projects. Projects that will be used in a real production environment, offloading the development cost (research, development, testing, etc.) away from the organizations, companies, etc.

We're already looking to develop tooling and information in areas where certification and verification of tooling and software are not needed. This includes Unmanned areal vehicles, robotics, non-critical systems, simulations and many more.

As one of our community members commented: #6 (comment)
and I couldn't have said it better... Building the outermost layer with non-safety-critical components towards the core of safety-critical components will provide us with a couple of years to build the tooling required for that and grow adoption along the way.

We know that there's already interest in using Rust by various entities and that's why we invite you to join and participate by bringing your experience, knowledge, and expertise to the working group!

• Join Discord: https://discord.gg/Xd98GjuEhu
• Github: https://github.com/AeroRust
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AeroRust
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqunSvlj8mglfIDY6_VwRsA
• Reddit Announcement: Reddit.com
• The Rust programming language: https://rust-lang.org

Best wishes,
Lachezar Lechev

Objectives:

• Start a discussion with as many as possible entities.
• Finding interested parties in general
• Get them involved from the start
• Get insights from the source itself and the vast resources
  (knowledge, expertise, etc.) they possess.

Motivation:

Get people interested in the working group and greatly involve them in actively participating and as well as making them part of the community and the efforts.

List of entities we can start contacting:

• NASA (contact form)
  Contacted on: 07.01.2020

• NASA JPL (contact form)
  Contacted on: 07.01.2020

• https://advancedspace.com (they've talked about Rust on the Flight Software Workshop in 2019)
  Contacted on: 07.01.2020

• https://kubos.com (they actively use Rust)
  Assigned: @MagixInTheAir
  Contacted on: 08.01.2020
  Representative: @plauche

• https://technology.nasa.gov
  Assigned: @elpiel
  Contacted on: 08.01.2020
  Contacted Daniel Lockney via LinkedIn

• https://eurospace.org
  They have a Research and Technology Working group - The Space Research & Technology Committee (SRTC), see Contact Letter for companies/agencies/communities #6 (comment) for more details
  Assigned: @elpiel
  Contacted on: 10.04.2020
  Contacted Nathalie and Jean-Charles via Email
  https://eurospace.org/contact/

• https://www.endurosat.com/
  For further details see: Contact Letter for companies/agencies/communities #6 (comment)

• https://www.rtems.org
  Collaboration for bringing Rust support?!
  Assigned: .... you maybe?

• https://zubax.com/ (the company behind https://uavcan.org)
  Assigned: .... you maybe?

• https://www.rocketlabusa.com
  Assigned: .... you maybe?

• https://www.roscosmos.ru
  Assigned: .... you maybe?

• https://global.jaxa.jp/
  Assigned: .... you maybe?

• https://www.esa.int/
  Assigned: .... you maybe?

• https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/default.asp
  Assigned: .... you maybe?

• ....? Who else do you think we should contact?

• ....?!

Also see #3 for the Industry outreach proposal.

[pwnorbitals]

Related to #3. I think we should first focus on companies that work on non-safety-critical components, hobbyist-targeted products (drones, UAVs, MAVs), and simulation solutions, as it will be easier to get them interested and new technologies won't be a big problem (regarding qualifications)

[elpiel]

Yes @MagixInTheAir , I coulnd't have said it better! 😉

[pwnorbitals]

contacted kubos.com with their online form and email. Will report back on the results here

[pwnorbitals]

Kubos dev @plauplauplau is on Discord ! I think they know about us now :)

[Vagelis-Prokopiou]

Hi guys. Some more space agencies that you might want to contact some time:
https://www.roscosmos.ru/
https://global.jaxa.jp/
https://www.esa.int/
https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/default.asp

[plauche]

I have spoken to the RTEMS (https://www.rtems.org/) folks about Rust at the Flight Software Workshop and they have expressed some interest. It would be worth reaching out to see if they are ready for a collaboration on bringing Rust support to RTEMS.

[arrowcircle]

Rotax engines are super popular in small general aviation aircrafts. They use CANAerospace protocol, so maybe contacting the manufacturer or implementing CANAerospace protocol in Rust is a good idea.

[elpiel]

What time do we start tomorrow? 😉

I am happy to announce, that we've got a response from one of the companies we've contacted.
They've decided to give AeroRust a development and test platform in space. <3

• Exodus Orbitals (https://exodusorbitals.com)
  Blog post mentioning Rust for Extraterrestrial Applications)
  Contacted on: 08.01.2020
  Joined on: 14.01.2020

Quote from Discord by @DarkStar1982 (CEO):

1. We need exposure/marketing - almost nobody know about us
2. We will offer you to fly Rust code in space
   Whatever you can think of - simple demo, or maybe elaborate app is fine :slight_smile:

Late 2020/Early 2021, after we gain some experience with ESA mission
reddit/r/rust can be a good platform to advertise both for you and me
Or something else

We plan to run a Kickstarter too, to fund at least part of our mission
That can help

Long story - we will give AeroRust a development and test platform in space
I think hardly a better offer is even possible :slight_smile:
So you can advertise that your code is truly space-qualified

I think this is as transparent as possible for our community.
I am really excited about this opportunity and can't wait to see this happen.

[jamesmunns]

Hey, James from Ferrous Systems here, let me know if there is anything I can help with :)

[elpiel]

Adding Eurospace (https://eurospace.org) to the list.
They seem to have a very diverse list of working groups, especially The Space Research & Technology Committee (SRTC)
Their Priorities PDF

I especially like how our Working group aligns with theirs:

To fully perform its mission the SRTC is able to:

• provide industry experts inputs at technology level and support technology roadmapping (identify critical technologies, maintain list of priority actions etc…)
• influence European technology policies and programmes (ESA Technology programmes, European Union procurement rules for R&T, Framework programme contents, etc.).

They might be a good entry-point into the European space industry.

[elpiel]

• https://parrot.com
  They have drone products, we are working on a Rust SDK called arsdk-rs and looking to build a Drone Demo project Project: Drone demo #16 . This can be a good opportunity for collaboration between our community and their company since we already use their products.

  Contacted on: 03.06.2020
  Contacted over a web form: contact form that was submitted to Parrot

Update: No response from them as of 14.02.2021