Collaboration dynamics for space technology: the case of Satellite Networked Open Ground Station

Introduction This paper explores the dynamics of open-source software collaboration for networked satellite ground stations. Building on open-source collaboration literature, it examines how these dynamics unfold in a distributed technological space infrastructure that combines software, hardware, and operational activity. It does so through the case of SatNOGS, a globally distributed crowd-sourced satellite ground-station network operated by the Libre Space Foundation. Methods To examine this empirically, we employ an exploratory mixed-methods research design that combines a quantitative strand, a Contribution Matrix (CM) mapping 148 contributors across 39 system elements, with a qualitative strand of eleven semi-directed interviews analyzed through the Framework Method. Results Findings indicate that SatNOGS software is organized around a modular collaboration structure, combining a large periphery dominated by single-element contributors (68.2%), with a small core of contributors responsible for much of the integration work. Interviews further reveal a distinctive group of paid and unpaid contributors, structured around specialist and generalist roles. Discussion Overall, SatNOGS is sustained through two coexisting modes of a dynamic collaboration: extreme modularity, which enables broad peripheral participation, and intertwined collaboration, which maintains system-wide coherence. This dynamic structure sustains the common project despite other governance-related challenges, i.e., contribution barriers or the lack of a shared roadmap.