The Tri-Agency Working Group — made up of NASA (specifically the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance), the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board — exists so that each organization can learn how the others handle mishaps within their organizations and how they could all work together on an investigation, should the need arise. At a meeting this September, the group expanded to become the Quad-Agency Working Group with the official addition of the U.S. Air Force.

As the agency looks at opportunities to use CubeSats in science and exploration missions, NASA’s Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) community is working to address some of the SMA challenges associated with these small spacecraft.

Dr. Jess Waller, material scientist at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility with Jacobs Technology Inc., received the 2015 Robert J. Painter Memorial Award for Meritorious Service from ASTM International and the Society for Standards Professionals for his significant contributions to standards over the last year. Waller, part of the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance’s (OSMA) Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) program, was chosen for this award out of ASTM’s approximately 32,000 members. 

Members of NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Working Group, along with the American Society for Testing and Materials, collaborated in the development of voluntary consensus standards for NDE of flat-panel polymer matrix composites as well as thin-walled metallic liners and overwraps in composite overwrapped pressure vessels. Before this effort, there were no comprehensive standards for NDE in these areas.

The October 2015 issue of Orbital Debris Quarterly News is now available and features the article "Two More Collision Avoidance Maneuvers for the International Space Station." Continue reading for the full article.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance is looking at a new way of assuring complex missions that use Model-Based Systems Engineering.

“Lifting Devices and Equipment (LDE) for Managers and Program Personnel," recently made available on the SATERN site, will help managers and program personnel understand the hazards, process and requirements associated with use of LDE.  

This new online course provides information to non-subject matter experts on risk assessment concepts, tools, techniques and application.

NASA/SP-2014-612, NASA System Safety Handbook, Volume 2: System Safety Concepts, Guidelines, and Implementation Examples has now been released. It is the second of two volumes that collectively comprise the NASA System Safety Handbook. 

Changes to NASA-STD-8719.24 align the standard with policy changes made to NPR 8715.7 last February.