NASA Uses Open Source in Space
Hi,
I know Chris can't be up to date on everything but I am surprised he forgot about RTEMS (http://www.rtems.org). We have been a Google Summer of Code project the past 4 years
which is sponsored by his own office. We are used in many NASA and ESA space missions including MMS, SDO, Herschel, Planck, Lisa Pathfinder, Electra, Dawn, Express Logistics Carrier (ELC) and will even be on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). We are also popular in other big science projects including high energy physics projects and observatories.
Open source does not mean untested or unqualified for the missions. It is a serious effort and expense to do a space mission and nothing is going in without a thorough review.
--joel