Systems Engineering Seminar

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC): An Organizational Overview and Recent Experiences Performing Technical
Assessments in Support of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Missions

Presented by:
Tim Trenkle/NESC Chief Engineer at GSFC, Neil Dennehy/NASA GN&C Technical Fellow, Joseph Pellicciotti/Mechanical Systems Technical Fellow,
Michael L. Aguilar/Software Technical Fellow,Oscar Gonzalez/Avionics Technical Fellow and Denney Keys/Electrical Power technical Fellow

Abstract:

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC):
An Organizational Overview and Recent Experiences Performing Technical Assessments in Support of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Missions

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Engineering Safety Center (NESC) was initially formed in July of 2003 in the wake of the Columbia tragedy. After 8 years of operation and after having completed over 300+ technical assessments the NESC has become the “value added” independent technical organization for the Agency. NESC is an independently funded NASA program whose dedicated team of technical experts coordinates and conducts objective engineering and safety assessments of critical, high risk projects. The NESC is a strong technical resource for customers and stakeholders seeking responsive service for solving the Agency’s difficult problems. NESC’s strength is rooted in the diverse perspectives and broad knowledge base that add value to its products, affording customers a responsive, alternate path for assessing and preventing technical problems while protecting vital human and national resources. NESC provides timely technical positions to its customers and stakeholders based on independent test and analysis, not opinion. By encouraging alternative viewpoints and ensuring objective reporting methods, NESC is able to serve as a uniquely unbiased assessment resource. NESC’s technical evaluation and consultation products are delivered in the form of written reports that include solution-driven, preventative, and corrective recommendations. . NESC’s range of services includes testing, analysis, and data review in fifteen engineering disciplines.

In this presentation a top-level overview of the NESC organization will be provided. The NESC model, which demonstrates the benefits of bringing together diverse technical experts to solve the Agency’s most difficult problems, will be highlighted and the following questions will be answered:

- Why the NESC was Formed?

- What the NESC Team Contributes to the Agency?

- How the NESC Operates to Benefit the Agency?

- Who Contributes to the NESC?

In addition the some of the NASA Technical Fellows based at GSFC will discuss recent experiences of their respective Technical Discipline Teams (TDT’s) with an emphasis on recent experiences performing technical assessments in support of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) missions.