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.  

Typically, employees look to their leaders for guidance, but Goddard Space Flight Center’s Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Director Richard Barney wants his employees to know he’s looking at those around him for inspiration.

One of the most important aspects of Reliability and Maintainability is understanding how things fail. Engineers can only make systems reliable if they understand what makes them unreliable.

The May issue of Orbital Debris Quarterly News (ODQN) includes articles on policy updates, personnel, project details and more. 

Johnson Space Center’s Reliability and Maintainability program is working on a new system that helps engineers and mission managers make better risk-informed decisions.

An update to the NASA Procedural Requirements for Limiting Orbital Debris and Evaluating the Meteoroid and Orbital Debris Environment (NPR 8715.6B) was released on February 16, 2017. NPR 8715.6B replaces the previous version, NPR 8715.6A with Change 1, which was released on  May 25, 2012.

NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance recently released updates to Cradle, the agency’s Safety and Mission Assurance requirements database, to improve user experience.

The most recent EEE Parts Bulletin provides information on activities related to Electrical, Electronic and Electromechanical (EEE) parts that occurred at NASA between January and July 2016.

The February 2017 edition of Orbital Debris Quarterly News included the article "Space Debris Sensor Waiting for Launch." Continue reading for the full article. 

The Perseid meteor shower, which peaks in August of each year, was twice as active in 2016 compared to other years. The Perseids are always a major shower and move at very high speeds, so monitoring is essential for the safety of NASA’s spacecraft as there is great potential for high-energy impacts. Increases in activity, like that seen this year, add additional mission risks.