Core Flight System Cryptography Library

Abstract

The NASA Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Program has been tasked with performing testing for the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Space Data Link Security (SDLS) Extended Procedure (EP) protocol. This testing has allowed for both the expansion of inter-agency collaboration and the publishing of the SDLS-EP Standard. This protocol is a "data processing method for space missions that need to apply authentication and/or confidentiality to the contents of Transfer Frames used by the Space Data Link Protocols over a space link" (CCSDS) 1. The interest for security on satellites stems from threats including but not limited to data corruption, interception, access control, and physical attacks. Protocol testing has been performed in the cloud between the European Space Agency and NASA. The flight software used on-board the simulated spacecraft was the Core Flight System (cFS). A cFS cryptography library, named Crypto, was developed to implement the SDLS-EP procedures and allow for easy integration into existing command ingest and telemetry output applications via a single security function. This library allows the spacecraft to communicate using the standardized Telecommand and Telemetry protocols while still publishing received CCSDS messages to the cFS software bus for application processing. The cFS Crypto library is currently undergoing the NASA release process to become open-source software. The sole designer, developer, and tester is looking to expand and increase current development speed by leveraging the community.