The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance is currently engaged in a multi-year program to develop continued use fitness-for-service approaches and sustainment logic for aging ground-based Multi-Layered Pressure Vessels.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance’s (OSMA) Ground-Based Pressure Systems Working Group (GBPSWG) completed a significant update to the agencywide SATERN training course, SMA-HQ-WBT-301, Ground-Based Pressure Systems Operations Safety.

NASA-STD-8719.26A, NASA Requirements for Ground Based Non-Code Metallic Pressure Vessels went into effect May 11, 2021. This standard is intended to manage risk to personnel, facilities, missions and the environment posed by the use of existing ground-based, non-code metallic Pressure Vessels that either 1) do not comply with applicable American Society of Mechanical Engineers code requirements specified in Occupational Safety and Health Administration 29 CFR pt. 1910 regulations or 2) were modified and no longer comply with the code.

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance Layered Pressure Vessel Risk Mitigation project team designed software to simplify and improve calculations required by the ASTM E1921, Standard Test Method for Determination of Reference Temperature, T0, for Ferritic Steels in the Transition Range.

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. 

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.

When asked about his new Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) role, Clifton Arnold joked that it came with many hats — in fact, more hats that he ever expected.

“The position expanded,” explained Arnold. “Pressure Systems included ground and flight pressure systems. With that, Lifting Devices was added, and then we included a special category called Propellants and Pressurants that deals with all propellants and inert gases.

Updates to American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) S-080A, Space Systems—Metallic Pressure Vessels, Pressurized Structures, and Pressure Components and ANSI/AIAA S-081B, Space Systems—Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels went into effect March 2018. 

The NASA Pressure Vessels and Systems Working Group developed updates to NASA-STD-8719.17, Requirements for Ground-Based Pressure Vessels and Pressurized Systems (PVS). With thousands of ground-based pressure systems across the agency storing substantial amounts of energy, it’s essential requirements for their safe and reliable operation remain current.