The Integration of COTS/GOTS within NASA's HST Command and Control System

NASA's mission crilical Hubble Space Telescope (HST) command and control system has been re-engineered x,_th commercial-off-theshelffgovernment-off-the-shelf (COTS/GOTS)and minimal custom code. This paper focuses on the design of this new HST Control Center System (CCS) and the lessc41s learned throughout its development. CCS currently utilizes more than 30 COTS/GOTS products with an additional % million lines of custom glueware code: tile new CCS exceeds the capabilities of the original system while significantly reducing the lines of custom code by more than 50%. The lifecycle of COTS/GOTS products will be examined including tile package selection process, evaluation process, and integration process. The advantages, disadvantages, issues, concerns, and lessons learned for integrating COTS/GOTS into tile NASA's mission critical HST CCS will be examined in detail. This paper will reveal the many hidden costs of COTS/GOTS solutions when compared to traditional custom code development efforts; this paper v, ill show the high cost of COTS/GOTS solutions including training expenses, consulting fees, and long-term maintenance expenses.