GitHub Copilot Launch Presentation

View the slide deck for the March 2026 launch here:

Overview of GitHub Copilot on the Science Cloud

GitHub and GitHub Copilot are now available as managed services through the Science Cloud. 

Pilot Study

From January until March of 2026, the Science Cloud ran a three-month pilot with 77 users across the NASA community, representing software developers (46%), engineers/scientists/researchers (29%), and IT/DevOps engineers (18%). Survey results were strong:

• 73% used Copilot three or more times per week; 27% used it one to two times per week — no pilot users reported not using it
• 73% rated Copilot suggestions as "very good" or "good"
• 86% felt Copilot significantly or moderately improved their productivity
• 92% intend to continue using Copilot as a paid service
• 92% reported Copilot saves them time, with 77% saving three or more hours per week

Financial Overview 

• A minimum one-year subscription is required
• Billing starts April 1 for existing customers; users who do not wish to continue must notify the team to stop their subscription
• Funds must be transferred to ARC, where CCS manages the Science Cloud contracts on Azure; a Resource Analyst (RA) is typically required to move funds between centers; a point of contact at ARC will be provided to help facilitate this
• A financial reporting dashboard is in development; monthly reports will be provided in the interim
• Alerts will be issued when funds drop below three months of coverage
• Organizations will not be allowed to go into arrears; subscriptions will be shut off if funds are exhausted
• Early termination is possible; the team will work with PIs and RAs to de-obligate unused funds where possible
• Subscriptions run on a monthly billing cycle and cannot be paused for partial periods
• Exceeding the monthly quota (300 requests) does not stop the subscription but incurs additional costs that reduce the remaining subscription period
• The break-even point for upgrading from Copilot Business to Copilot Enterprise is 800 premium requests per month

Operations Overview

• The default subscription offering is Copilot Business plus GitHub Enterprise; Copilot Enterprise (1,000 premium requests) is also available; Copilot Enterprise requires a GitHub Enterprise subscription
• GitHub Enterprise without Copilot is available as a standalone option for teams that need enterprise repository features but not AI coding assistance
• Internal NASA users should submit group requests via the Microsoft Form rather than individual tickets; external users should submit via the Science Cloud Service Desk
• Onboarding requires funding confirmation before access is provisioned; the team expects to complete provisioning within one to two days of funding confirmation
• GitHub organization invitations will come from GitHub and will display Aaron Skolnik's referee icon; invitations expire after seven days
• Single sign-on (SSO) via the Science Cloud's Azure Entra ID is being rolled out enterprise-wide; users will be prompted to authenticate through SSO on their first login to enterprise features
• This service runs on GitHub.com only and is not compatible with developer.nasa.gov, which is a separate on-premises NASA-hosted GitHub

Security Considerations

• GitHub Copilot operates as a FISMA Low system
• Prohibited data types include PII, ITAR, EAR, and CUI
• Permitted content is limited to unclassified, publicly releasable information, source code and documentation not subject to export controls, and non-CUI research and development work
• Users should think carefully about their data before committing it to GitHub; when in doubt, contact Tara Leonard or any Science Cloud team member
• GitHub Copilot learns from user inputs; users should keep their inputs clean