At the recommendation of the NASA Metrology and Calibration (MetCal) Program, the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance cancelled NPD 8730.1, Metrology and Calibration and transferred the content to a new NASA standard, NASA-STD-8739.12, Metrology and Calibration, which went into effect Jan. 23, 2018. NPD 8730.5, NASA Quality Assurance Program Policy will carry the remaining MetCal policy language that was not transferred to NASA-STD-8739.12.

It is essential that NASA engineers use proper precautions when working with Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) sensitive hardware, as poor ESD control practices could be the difference between success and failure for a mission. ESD control is a fundamental component of NASA’s workmanship policy, which is why NASA requires operators to verify ESD personnel grounding systems (e.g. wrist or heel straps that are continuously connected to common point ground) are properly functioning before they enter an ESD Protected Area (EPA) or come within one meter of an ESD sensitive item. 

NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance Quality Initiatives Program sponsored a half day workshop on Quality Assurance in Additive Manufacturing (AM) at Aerospace Corporation Headquarters in El Segundo, California. The workshop, held in association with Aerospace’s Manufacturing Problem Prevention Program — or MP3 — and Additive Manufacturing Guidance Development Workshop, focused on the theme of “Quality Strategies for AM.” Speakers at the NASA AM portion included NASA centers, national labs and AM manufacturing industry representatives, as well as industrial risk analysis companies. 

The most recent EEE Parts Bulletin provides information on activities related to Electrical, Electronic and Electromechanical (EEE) parts that occurred at NASA between June and July 2017. 

Multi-disciplinary physics-of-failure testing and simulations conducted on Printed Circuit Boards at Goddard Space Flight Center recently resulted in an industry standard update, which will lead to cost savings not only for NASA but for the electronics industry in general.

The latest EEE Parts Bulletin is the second of two special editions on Electrostatic Discharge.

The NASA Workmanship Standards Program coordinated an administrative change to NASA-STD-8739.6A, Implementation Requirements for NASA Workmanship Standards. The primary reason for the change is to formally adopt IPC/WHMA-A-620B-S, Space Applications Electronic Hardware Addendum to IPC/WHMA-A-620B as an equivalent, alternative standard to NASA-STD-8739.4, Workmanship Standard for Crimping, Interconnecting Cables, Harnesses, and Wiring.  

Imagine if capturing an X-ray was as fast and simple as taking a digital photo. Now imagine being able to capture high-speed radiography videos with the same relative ease. 

Doug Sheldon, Assurance Technology Program Office manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, recently presented to the Academy of Aerospace Quality (ASQ) on the evolution of Safety and Mission Assurance approaches for SmallSat and CubeSat missions. 

These days 3-D printing is a fairly well-known concept, but in the design and Quality Assurance worlds, 3-D printing — aka Additive Manufacturing (AM) — is still in its infancy. There aren’t many policies guiding AM efforts at NASA, other government organizations or in industry, but the AM community is working hard to change that.