THE PROBLEM: Trajectory Analysis and Optimization Software (TAOS), developed and maintained by a team at Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia), has long been used by government agencies and their contractors because of its accuracy and ease of use. With so much commercial and government collaboration in the space sector, both government and industry have a high need for standardized, easy-to-use software for safety analysis.

THE SOLUTION: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration approved TAOS for use as part of its launch safety analysis program, and the software has been licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration, which has oversight of commercial launch safety. However, before commercially licensing the software, the TAOS and tech transfer teams at Sandia had to address concerns about licensing the software to private companies. Additionally, they had to develop a secure means of distributing the software without dedicated funding or a formal government mandate.

THE TECH TRANSFER MECHANISM: When Sandia and the Department of Energy agreed on the software’s benefit for all launches in the national interest, Sandia tech transfer specialists helped smaller companies gain access to TAOS by working with them to obtain approval from the Department of War Joint Certification Program. Without external funding, the TAOS technical team volunteered to train software users and to set up and maintain a secure external collaboration network for distributing software updates, training resources, and manuals.

THE TECH TRANSFER EXCELLENCE: Technical and licensing staff worked closely together to obtain approvals and determine how to effectively distribute and support the software commercially. The TAOS team configured a website on Sandia’s external collaboration network to host the software. The TAOS team continues to innovate ways to streamline the distribution of software updates that incorporate suggestions from users.

THE IMPACT: Originally created for Sandia’s national security mission requirements, TAOS is now being used by hundreds of government and private industry licensees to promote flight safety and address commercial space industry needs. To date, over 270 government use notices and commercial licenses have been issued for TAOS, and more than 84% of the commercial companies that launched rockets in the U.S. in 2024 have licensed it, including some of the largest and best known companies in the space industry. The commercial space sector accounted for 70% of all U.S. launches in 2024, and it is projected to grow from an estimated $630 billion in 2023 to $1.8 trillion by 2035. TAOS is helping to make rocket launches safer at a time of exponential growth in the industry.