There are a lot of grad students out there that would love to talk to you and need the help badly.
If you really would like to write space-bound code, I would suggest reaching out to the grad students directly. Nearly all space science programs have dozens of students currently working on instruments or platforms that will be going into space in the next few years.
To get you started, here's the faculty page for ASU: https://sese.asu.edu/people/faculty You can chose any other university any where on the planet too.
Look through some of the labs there. Find a project you may like to work with. Contact the grad students on the PI's homepage directly. You do not need to talk to the professor beforehand. I'll repeat, there is no level of politeness that says you need to talk to the professor beforehand; talking to the grad students directly is perfectly acceptable. See if the grad student needs a hand and what with.
I will warn you, they are scientists that begrudgingly code, they are not coders. Their code is downright cringe in it's simplicity. That's because they are scientists first. Do not try to introduce complex concepts like git to them.
I would really really encourage you to reach out and lend a hand, they need it.
If you are interested in writing open-source code that ends up in space. Don't hesitate to check Libre Space Foundation's repositories https://gitlab.com/librespacefoundation/ there are several open-source software and hardware projects currently in development including satellites and their components. More info on the organization here: https://libre.space
Disclaimer: I'm the vice-chair of the organization, and I might be biased.
Another way to achieve that would be to contribute to Open Source software. Github for example awarded a badge to developers who contributed to libraries which are used by the helicopter on Mars to make such achievements more transparent: https://github.blog/changelog/2021-04-19-new-badge-for-devel...
If you really would like to write space-bound code, I would suggest reaching out to the grad students directly. Nearly all space science programs have dozens of students currently working on instruments or platforms that will be going into space in the next few years.
To get you started, here's the faculty page for ASU: https://sese.asu.edu/people/faculty You can chose any other university any where on the planet too.
Look through some of the labs there. Find a project you may like to work with. Contact the grad students on the PI's homepage directly. You do not need to talk to the professor beforehand. I'll repeat, there is no level of politeness that says you need to talk to the professor beforehand; talking to the grad students directly is perfectly acceptable. See if the grad student needs a hand and what with.
I will warn you, they are scientists that begrudgingly code, they are not coders. Their code is downright cringe in it's simplicity. That's because they are scientists first. Do not try to introduce complex concepts like git to them.
I would really really encourage you to reach out and lend a hand, they need it.