Does NASA license the software that it develops?
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Published on 2012-11-02T22:40:24Z
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NASA provides a visualization software called Panoply. There is a Credits and Acknowledgments page that acknowledges and lists the licenses of software dependencies, but provides no information about its own license.
I have looked at other software produced by NASA, including the source code for GISS and can not find any information about a licence.
The closest information that I can find is in the FAQ for the global climate model EdGCM Global that says the code is in the "public domain"
- is it standard practice at NASA to release code into the public domain?
- are there exceptions?
- Can I assume that Panoply is public domain and can be used without restriction other than than those imposed by licenses of software dependencies?
- Is the absence of specific permission to reuse the code a concern (this issue was raised in the answer to a separate question)
- How common is this practice across government agencies?
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