Systems Engineering Seminar

Tuesday, September 10, 2024 - 1pm (ET)

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a Small Explorer Mission that launched in December 2021 and is currently in the extended mission phase. IXPE, was developed by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Ball Aerospace, the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology (IAPS)/ National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), Stanford University, McGill University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For this presentation, the focus is the IXPE observatory and the collaboration of NASA MSFC, Ball Aerospace and IAPS/INAF.

The IXPE partners each provided unique capabilities and experience which were utilized to design, build and launch the IXPE observatory resulting in the collection of on-orbit scientific data measurements which are transmitted to ground stations and analyzed. An overview of the mission lifecycle for phases B through D will be reviewed. The established systems engineering (SE) methods, including NASA NPR 7123.1, and teaming approach to achieve the IXPE mission goals will be discussed. The requirements development and analysis along with definition of the interface control documents (ICD) will be reviewed. Of particular note are requirements and ICDs between major flight elements and between organizations.

Biography:

Janice Houston joined the SAO Central Engineering in January 2022. She has been working on projects including the next generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT), the Black Hole Explorer (BHEX), and the Line Emission Mapper, which was a submitted probe proposal. She was previously the lead system engineer for the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, a space-based observatory which successfully launched on December 9, 2021 and which is a collaboration between NASA MSFC and the Italian Space Agency. IXPE received the American Astronomical Society’s 2024 Bruno Rossi Prize in high-energy astronomy for helping advance our understanding of particle acceleration and emission from astrophysical shocks, black holes and neutron stars. During Janice's 30+ years in spaceflight systems, she has developed technical expertise in microgravity, vibration and acoustic environments. Her projects have resulted in spaceflight hardware on sounding rockets, Space Shuttle, and International Space Station. Janice has worked on ALV-XI and Ares I-X launch vehicles, SWORDS and SLS development vehicles and ASMAT and SMAT subscale rocket test programs. She has conducted tests at various NASA centers (MSFC, LaRC, GRC, MAF, SSC, WFF, JSC, KSC) plus domestic and international clean room facilities/test sites including: Indian Head Naval Warfare Center, ATK Promontory Utah, EADS in Bremen, Germany and Alenia Aerospazio in Torino, Italy. Janice has flown on the "Vomit Comet," holds two patents for her experimental work with magnets in the microgravity environment, and has co-authored multiple papers. Janice has served on the University of Arizona Physics Department External Advisory Board and two National Research Council Transportation Research Board Airport Cooperative Research Program Panels.