NASA recently updated NASA-STD-8719.14, Process for Limiting Orbital Debris. This update follows the February 2017 revision of the governing policy document NPR 8715.6, NASA Procedural Requirements for Limiting Orbital Debris and Evaluating the Meteoroid and Orbital Debris Environments.

The most recent EEE Parts Bulletin provides information on activities related to Electrical, Electronic and Electromechanical (EEE) parts that occurred at NASA between June and September 2018. This is a special edition on Electrostatic Discharge.

In March, Crumbley stepped into a new role as the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance Software Assurance technical fellow. Crumbley is responsible for establishing the agency-level Software Assurance procedures, policies, training and requirements for NASA. Overall, Crumbley leads Software Assurance policy development and provides research program oversight, technical direction, and support for the agency and its partners.

The NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging Program is bridging gaps between engineering and assurance disciplines using a Model-Based Mission Assurance tool built around NASA-STD-8729.1, NASA Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) Standard for Spaceflight and Support Systems. The tool — the Systems Engineering and Assurance Modeling platform — is a web-based collaborative platform for modeling assurance cases that can be integrated with the models of the system. 

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance recently named Elaine Seasly as the deputy Planetary Protection Officer. In this role, she will be supporting the Office of Planetary Protection in its efforts to promote the responsible exploration of the solar system by implementing and developing efforts that protect the science, explored environments and Earth.

NASA’s programs rely on robust supply chains to achieve mission success, resulting in many complex relationships that often cross between not only disciplines and projects, but contracts and suppliers. To ensure success, Safety and Mission Assurance professionals must look at the supply chain through a Risk Management perspective to help leaders make risk-informed decisions about the products and services that go into building the spacecraft, payloads and ground systems for the agency’s projects.

The NASA Metrology and Calibration (MetCal) Program released a new course in SATERN, “4:1 Test Accuracy Ratio for Compliance with ANSI/NCSL Z540.1-1994 (R2002) Sub-clause 10.2.b,” (SMA-HQ-WBT-217).

The Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center developed an integrated platform, the Meta information system, which currently encompasses 22 operational applications for Goddard and NASA Headquarters’ Science Mission Directorate.

After each of NASA’s major mishaps — Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia — the agency investigated the mishap and applied findings to future flights. As spaceflight became safer with the implementation of the lessons learned, mishap investigations also improved from each experience. With NASA preparing to fly three new crewed space vehicles in the coming years, clear understanding of the Mishap Investigation process with regards to Human Spaceflight and the underlying authorities and legal landscape of these investigations becomes paramount.