The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance’s Multi-Layered Pressure Vessel Risk Mitigation Project (MLPVRMP) made significant advancements in detecting weld flaws in Multi-Layered Pressure Vessels (MLVP) through the use of advanced techniques in Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE). The unique design and fabrication of MLPVs made inspection of inner weld areas joining shell to shell layers impossible, until now. This breakthrough presents the agency with the ability to thoroughly examine and baseline in-service MLPVs for critical weld flaws, thereby supporting selective MLPV replacement based on verified risk. 

NASA projects go through the full life cycle, from concept to implementation to closeout, with a number of reviews along the way. These reviews ensure that the developed project can meet mission objectives and do so safely. The project must make a case for itself: show and explain why the system will work as intended. Enter, the safety assurance case, or simply safety case as it may be more commonly known. Researchers at Ames Research Center have been fine tuning their notion of the safety case and developing a tool to make its development easier.

“I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world,” said author Mary Anne Radmacher. For Ames Research Center’s newest Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Director Andrew “Drew” Demo, a lifetime of travel has taught him to appreciate diversity, exercise empathy and sensitivity, and build relationships — all essential building blocks to his leadership style.

In tune with the agency’s initiative to create solutions that enable seamless data flow and collaboration across centers, NASA is hosting its first virtual Digital Transformation Hackathon, Sept. 11.

The U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) recently released “Notice of Extension of Enforcement Discretion Regarding Cylinders That Have Exceeded Their Periodic Requalification Test Date.” 

In recent years, the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) Pressure Systems program accomplished a number of efforts to facilitate broader use of NASGRO for the analysis and sustainment of pressure systems. By expanding the use of NASA’s perpetual, royalty-free NASGRO license, centers across the agency will realize a significant cost savings.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) simultaneously renumbered and published an update to NASA-STD-6008, NASA Fastener Procurement, Receiving Inspection, and Storage Practices for Spaceflight. The new document, NASA-STD-8739.14, NASA Fastener Procurement, Receiving Inspection, and Storage Practices for NASA Mission Hardware, is now available for download at standards.nasa.gov. This is the first substantive technical change to the document since its stewardship transferred from the NASA Office of Chief Engineer to OSMA in 2008. The number change aligns with OSMA’s assigned number series for technical standards.

NASA released two NASA Interim Directives (NIDs) updating the agency’s requirements for robotic and human missions traveling to the Earth’s Moon and human missions traveling to Mars.

NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance released NPR 8621.1D, NASA Procedural Requirements for Mishap and Close Call Reporting, Investigating, and Recordkeeping, effective July 6, 2020. In addition to various administrative changes, the update includes two new chapters focused on commercial launch and aircraft mishaps.