TALK · 29 APRIL 2027
DELPHI: A Metasploit for Spacecraft Flight Software
A modular framework for reconnaissance, traffic capture, and command injection against spacecraft flight software.
Steven Doran
Flight software engineer
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
DELPHI (Digital Eavesdropping via Linked Payload Hijacking Interception) is a modular cyber-testing framework that brings the Metasploit paradigm to spacecraft flight software. Just as Metasploit unified exploit and payload modules against networked hosts, DELPHI unifies reconnaissance, traffic capture, and command-injection modules against spacecraft flight software (FSW). Initially designed to test and identify cyber vulnerabilities in NASA JPL’s open-source FSW framework before releases, DELPHI has been modified and expanded to test other FSW frameworks and deployments.
Built as a GUI with an embedded operations terminal, DELPHI manages a roster of targets (connection, ports, environment, hardware) and runs config-driven modules against them — packet eavesdropping, protocol sniffing, service discovery, command-sequence replay, and fuzzing with live logging throughout. Its modular design lets operators add new functionality without touching core code, exactly like Metasploit’s extensibility.
Purpose-built for authorized security research on owned or sanctioned testbeds, DELPHI gives space-systems engineers a repeatable, extensible platform for hardening flight software before it ever reaches orbit.
About Steven Doran
Steven Doran is a flight software engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with more than 25 years of experience developing and leading embedded flight software for space and defense programs. These include the F-22, the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS), and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. At JPL, he leads cybersecurity work on the open-source F Prime flight software framework, strengthening the cyber resiliency of small satellite missions. Steven speaks often at venues such as the SmallSat Conference and the Flight Software Workshop. He studied at Johns Hopkins University and is based in Thousand Oaks, California.