Nebula, NASA, and OpenStack

This post by Ray O’Brien (Former Nebula Project Manager, NASA Ames Research Center CIO, Acting) was originally posted to nebula.nasa.gov. The Nebula Cloud Computing Platform was the Flagship Initiative for NASA’s first Open Government Plan, and much has been learned, accomplished, and created over the course of this project. Thanks to the team who worked so hard and invested so much in this groundbreaking effort.

When we started Nebula in 2008, it was for a somewhat different purpose than what it eventually became. Under the project name NASA.net, we initially set out to consolidate NASA’s web space onto a unified platform. By offering common web development tools and resources as a centralized service, it was hoped that a convergence effect could be achieved that would result in heightened efficiency and greater visibility into a diverse array of Agency activities.