cFS is a platform and project independent reusable software framework and set of reusable applications developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. There are three key aspects to the cFS architecture: a dynamic run-time environment, layered software, and a component based design, making it suitable for reuse on NASA flight projects and/or embedded software systems. This framework is used as the basis for the flight software for satellite data systems and instruments, but can also be used on other embedded systems. Modules of this package are used in NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer). The modules are available as separate downloads from SourceForge through the NASA cFS website.

The Core Flight Executive is a portable, platform-independent embedded system framework that is the basis for flight software for satellite data systems and instruments; cFE can be used on other embedded systems as well. The Core Flight Executive is written in C and depends on the software library Operating System Abstraction Layer (OSAL), which is available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/osal/.