The role of NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) in advancing NASA's astrophysics missions (past, present, and future)

Azita Valinia; Cornelius Dennehy; Michael Dube; Steven Gentz; Michael Kirsch; Joseph Minow; Joseph Pellicciotti; Upendra Singh; Timmy Wilson

doi:10.1117/12.2575657

13 December 2020 The role of NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) in advancing NASA's astrophysics missions (past, present, and future)

Azita Valinia, Cornelius Dennehy, Michael Dube, Steven Gentz, Michael Kirsch, Joseph Minow, Joseph Pellicciotti, Upendra Singh, Timmy Wilson

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11443, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 1144308 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2575657
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) was established in 2003 (after the Columbia accident) to provide an independent technical resource for the resolution of challenging technical problems (through the use of studies, analysis, tests, etc.) for NASA programs and projects. Since its inception, NESC has completed nearly 1000 technical assessments for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operation Mission Directorate (HEOMD), Science Mission Directorate (SMD), Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), and Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). Of the SMD related assessments, several were for the resolution of technical problems, analysis, or studies related to NASA’s astrophysics missions in various phases of the project from design to operation. Some of the recent examples of NESC technical support for NASA astrophysics missions have been for: Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Kepler Space Telescope, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). In this paper, we outline some of the technical challenges faced by these astrophysics missions and describe how NESC contributed to their resolution. The case studies cover a wide range of disciplines involving space telescopes, detectors, lasers, and attitude control systems. These efforts include innovative solutions for extending the life of the missions, technical resolution of challenging problems, strategies for risk mitigation, and failure investigations combined with lessons learned reports to advance discipline knowledge, enhance NASA capabilities, and avoid future problems.

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Azita Valinia, Cornelius Dennehy, Michael Dube, Steven Gentz, Michael Kirsch, Joseph Minow, Joseph Pellicciotti, Upendra Singh, and Timmy Wilson "The role of NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) in advancing NASA's astrophysics missions (past, present, and future)", Proc. SPIE 11443, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 1144308 (13 December 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2575657

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KEYWORDS

Astrophysics

Safety

Space operations

Analytical research

James Webb Space Telescope

Space telescopes

Aerospace engineering

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