Flight Software Workshop (FSW) 2026

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in conjunction with The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, The Aerospace Corporation, The Southwest Research Institute and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, is hosting the 19th Annual Workshop on Spacecraft Flight Software (FSW 2026) in Laurel, Maryland from March 23rd to 26th, 2026.

In the last several years there has been a significant increase in the next generation of flight system architectures for space. Some of the advancements have been in multicore, soft-core, FPGA's, space computers, operating systems, flight software and machine learning. This presents many opportunities in the space industry, as well as some significant challenges.

The general themes for FSW-26 are:

• Resiliency, safety, and security
• Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and onboard data processing
• Space networking
• Onboard data storage and representation
• Flight software architectures, open-source software, frameworks, and software buses
• Software enabled mission concepts
• Digital twin, config management, and software enabled emulation
• DevOps, continuous integration, and automated testing
• FSW, embedded processor, and FPGA interactions
• Flight Operating Systems
• New languages (bring your non-C work)
• Your hot FSW topic we haven't listed!

Please note: Themes are suggested topics, meant to guide and inspire Workshop participants. Other flight software subjects are welcome for consideration!

MathWorks is an event sponsor, exhibitor and speaker at this event.