NASA Modernizes Software Assurance Guidance with Updates to NASA-STD-8739.8C and the Software Engineering and Assurance Handbook
November 05, 2026
3-minute read
NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) has updated the agency’s guidance for Software Assurance, Software Safety and Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) with a new draft version of the Software Assurance, Software Safety and IV&V Standard,
NASA-STD-8739.8C, and an enhanced
Software Engineering and Assurance Handbook application, making requirements easier to understand and apply.
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M-FORCE Tiger Team Meets to Modernize Planetary Protection
October 23, 2026
2-minute read
NASA’s new Microbial Forward Contamination Evaluation (M‑FORCE) Tiger Team recently met at the NASA Safety Center in Cleveland, Ohio, to produce a comprehensive assessment of planetary protection’s forward contamination requirements on Mars.
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Category IVa Mars Planetary Protection Primer Now Available
October 22, 2026
1-minute read
NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, in coordination with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has prepared a new Quick‑Start Guide to support mission teams pursuing Mars Category IVa landing missions.
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Revision of NPR 8715.26, Nuclear Flight Safety Now Available
September 14, 2026
2-minute read
The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) recently revised NPR 8715.26A, Nuclear Flight Safety. The NASA Procedural Requirement (NPR) defines the roles and responsibilities for managing and overseeing NASA’s Nuclear Flight Safety (NFS) activities.
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NASA Establishes M-FORCE Tiger Team to Shape Mars Planetary Protection Protocols
August 28, 2026
2-minute read
NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA), in partnership with the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), is seeking applicants for a newly established external Tiger Team named Mars Forward Operational Risk and Contamination Evaluation (M‑FORCE).
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ESD Control of Next Generation High Performance Spaceflight Computing (HPSC) Processor: A Wafer Charge Study
August 26, 2026
1-minute read
The High Performance Spaceflight Computing (HPSC) processor is the next-generation space-based microprocessor for future space missions. The HPSC has superior computational capacity and multicore architecture to provide unprecedented flexibility, power management and fault tolerance.
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NASA Employees Can Access ASQ Quality Resources and Professional Development Benefits
July 24, 2026
2-minute read
Quality professionals across NASA can benefit from the agency-wide organizational membership in the American Society for Quality (ASQ). The membership provides employees access to quality resources, professional development opportunities, benchmarking tools, member pricing and connections to the broader quality community.
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