NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) recently released NPR 8715.24, Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions, effective Sept. 24, 2021. The new NASA Procedural Requirement (NPR) covers the agency’s new paradigm and overall approach to Planetary Protection and takes the place of the now cancelled NPR 8020.12D, Planetary Protection Provisions for Robotic Extraterrestrial Missions to integrate Planetary Protection. 

Recently, the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) updated its Planetary Protection policy for the Moon, including adding Category II sub-designations to accommodate missions to different regions. The new Category IIa and IIb designations reflect the importance of the Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) to science and the Artemis generation of human exploration.

NASA updated NPR 8715.3, NASA General Safety Program Requirements on April 13 from Revision D With Change 2 to Revision D With Change 3. This update reflects recent changes to and ensures consistency with NPR 8715.1, NASA Safety and Health Programs. 

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance’s Workmanship Standards program recently updated NASA-STD-8739.6, Implementation Requirements for NASA Workmanship Standards to

• Align with changes in industry standards
• Expand Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) control requirements
• Clarify training requirements
• Reflect changes in other NASA Policy Directives and NASA Procedural Requirements

NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) made significant updates to NPR 8705.4A, Risk Classification for NASA Payloads, effective April 29. 2021. OSMA updated the policy to reflect changes in risk acceptance and Technical Authority concurrence policies, to formalize and shorten the timeline for the risk classification process, to provide clearer and earlier documentation of the Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) implementation approach, and (most importantly) better align stakeholder and implementer expectations. 

Recent updates to NPR 8705.6, Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Audits, Reviews, and Assessments on March 29,2021, added the chief health and medical officer to the list of Technical Authorities who may request a Safety and Mission Success Review (SMSR). Along with the chief of SMA and chief engineer, the chief health and medical officer will be able to officially request and participate in SMSRs.

Two recent changes to NASA policy directly affect NASA’s Construction Safety community and its commercial suppliers and contractors. These changes went into effect Feb. 1, 2021. 

Recent updates to NPR 8735.2, Hardware Quality Assurance Program Requirements for Programs and Projects consolidate Office of Safety and Mission Assurance policy into a hierarchy, make life cycle Quality Assurance more obvious without increasing prescription, and present approaches and solutions for a set of mission assurance objectives. 

Vegetation control is a necessary and effective tool to minimize the risk of fire propagation into explosives storage magazines, which could lead to dangerous and costly accidents. Generally, vegetation around explosives storage sites is strictly controlled. The Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Transportation Security Administration all have specific regulations to control the potential damage to explosives storage magazines from a nearby fire. Similarly, NASA has NASA-STD-8719.12, Safety Standard for Explosives, Propellants, and Pyrotechnics section 5.4 Vegetation Control, which outlines the basic agency requirements for managing vegetation. However, how each center implements these controls varies to accommodate the centers’ environments and needs.

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.”