The NASA Human Factors Task Force received the 2019 Agency Honor Awards Group Achievement Award for its outstanding leadership in improving the use of Human Factors processes and techniques to ensure the agency continues to carry out its mission safely.

NASA recognized the NASA Safety Culture Working Group’s (SCWG) outstanding contributions to the agency’s mission by presenting its members with the 2019 Agency Honor Awards Group Achievement Award.

The Office of Safety and Mission’s (OSMA) Explosives and Pyrotechnics Safety program recently released new online SATERN training, “Basic Explosive Safety Refresher,” to the agency.

Learn the latest details on the release of the Orbital Debris Engineering Model, ORDEM 3.1, in this article from Orbital Debris Quarterly News, Volume 24, Issue 1, February 2020.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance’s Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) recently released “A Meteoroid Handbook for Aerospace Engineers and Managers” (NASA/TM-2019-220142) to help educate programs across the agency about the environments their spacecraft could encounter during their missions and, in turn, help programs protect their spacecraft from potentially damaging threats.

The February 2020 issue of Orbital Debris Quarterly News is now available and includes the article “The Inaugural International Orbital Debris Conference,” republished here. 

This issue also includes the articles “U.S. National Space Council Announces Update to the USG ODMSP,” “Fifty-first SOZ Unit Breaks Up,” “Debris Assessment Software Version 3.0 Release,” and “The 2019 U.S. Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices.” 

When working with explosives, it’s essential to fully understand the hazards and potential risks to employees and facilities in the area should something go wrong. However, it’s also possible for non-explosive materials to become energetic in a way that poses similar, potentially deadly and damaging risks. These high-risk operations — whether relative to “traditional” explosives or energetic materials — need to be properly managed to ensure a safe work environment. How Explosives Safety Officers are assessing and managing that risk varies from center to center to accommodate the diverse environments and work being done. The following examples show how three unique NASA centers and facilities are managing these risks.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance is preparing to submit NASA-STD-8739.14, NASA Fastener Procurement, Receiving Inspection, and Storage Practices for NASA Mission Hardware for agencywide review in order to meet the planned May 6, 2020, publication date. 

The U.S. National Space Council announced the update to the U.S. Government (USG) Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP). The announcement took place at the First International Orbital Debris Conference (co-sponsored by NASA) in Sugar Land, Texas.

The Safety Culture program is celebrating its 10-year anniversary at NASA. Over the past decade, program members have dedicated their time and energy to providing a platform for the NASA community to voice safety concerns without repercussion, communicating safety issues to agency and center leaders, and developing education to encourage contributions to Safety Culture in the workplace. After years of forming, developing and improving the Safety Culture program at NASA, the group is being honored for its tenacious efforts.