Some of our projects

On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) 
Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) CCOR InstrumentCredits: NASA.gov

OSAM-1 is a robotic spacecraft equipped with the tools, technologies and techniques needed to extend satellites' lifespans - even if they were not designed to be serviced on orbit. During its mission, the OSAM-1 servicer will rendezvous with, grasp, refuel and relocate a government-owned satellite to extend its life.

But OSAM-1's effect will not end there. The benefits are many. OSAM-1’s capabilities can give satellite operators new ways to manage their fleets more efficiently, and derive more value from their initial investment. These capabilities could even help mitigate the looming problem of orbital debris.

Successfully completing this mission will demonstrate that servicing technologies are ready for incorporation into other NASA missions, including exploration and science ventures. NASA is also transferring OSAM-1 technologies to commercial entities to help jumpstart a new domestic servicing industry.

QARMS is providing quality assurance surveillance activities and hardware quality assurance functions for hardware being manufactured in direct support of the Mission.

Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) 
Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) CCOR InstrumentCredits: NASA.gov

(NOAA)Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) provides global observations that serve as the backbone of both short- and long-term forecasts, including those that help us predict and prepare for severe weather events.

The five satellites scheduled in the fleet are the currently-flying NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite, NOAA-20, previously known as JPSS-1, NOAA-21, previously known as JPSS-2, and the upcoming JPSS-3 and JPSS-4 satellites.

JPSS satellites circle the Earth from pole to pole and cross the equator about 14 times daily in the afternoon orbit to provide full global coverage twice a day. In doing so, they provide the majority of data that informs numerical weather forecasting in the U.S. and deliver critical observations during severe weather events like hurricanes and blizzards.

QARMS is providing quality assurance support at prime and subcontractor supplier locations to perform surveillance activities and hardware quality assurance functions on JPSS spacecraft, instruments, components, subsystems, and subassemblies.

 

Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) Ground Segment Antenna Network (SAN)
Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) CCOR Instrument Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) Credits: NASA.gov

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service (NESDIS) has developed the Space Weather Follow On (SWFO) Antenna Program, a parent program to the Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) Observatory Mission, with acquisition assistance from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The SWFO Program’s main goal is to provide critical data to the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). The SWFO-L1 observatory will be placed at the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L1) with the goal of providing continuous measurements of the space environment, including observations of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, and contributing to accurate forecasts of space weather disturbances. SWFO Antenna Network (SAN is in support of the SWFO-L1 mission.

The data produced by SWFO will help NOAA provide watches and warnings for space weather events that can disrupt the electrical power grid and communications systems as well as navigation and timing systems like the Global Positioning System (GPS). The SWFO program is comprised of two projects: CCOR on GOES U spacecraft and the Space Weather Follow-On L1 mission (SWFO-L1).

KBR with QARMS as a subcontractor has won the contract for the Space Weather Follow On (SWFO) Ground Segmenst Antenna Network (SAN). The contract includes all efforts necessary to design, analyze, develop, construct, fabricate, assemble, install, check-out, integrate, test, evaluate, verify, deliver, document, and maintain the SAN. This WBS also specifies the activities required to support development, verification and acceptance of the SAN by the Government and its integration into the SWFO Ground Segment.  

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telephone (formerly known as Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST)

The Roman Space Telescope (RST) is a NASA observatory designed to settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics. The telescope has a primary mirror that is 2.4 meters in diameter (7.9 feet) and is the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope's primary mirror. RST will have two instruments, the Wide Field Instrument, and the Coronagraph Instrument.  It will detect vestiges of sound waves that once rippled through the primordial cosmic sea. According to new simulations, Roman’s observations could extend these measurements into an unprobed epoch between the universe’s infancy and the present day. Studying the echoes from this era will help us trace the evolution of the universe and solve pressing cosmic conundrums.

The Wide Field Instrument will have a field of view that is 100 times greater than the Hubble infrared instrument, capturing more of the sky with less observing time. As the primary instrument, the Wide Field Instrument will measure light from a billion galaxies over the course of the mission lifetime. It will perform a microlensing survey of the inner Milky Way to find ~2,600 exoplanets. The Coronagraph Instrument will perform high contrast imaging and spectroscopy of individual nearby exoplanets. RST will have a primary mission lifetime of 5 years, with a potential 5-year extended mission.

QARMS is providing surveillance activities and hardware quality assurance functions on the RST subsystem hardware, specifically the Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) including the Sensor Chip Assemblies (SCA) and Sensor Chip Electronics (SCE). This work is in direct support of the RST mission, which has a project office located at GSFC.

Roman Space TelescopeCredits: NASA.gov 
NASA HQ - Risk Management and System Safety Guides and Handbooks
NASA HeadquartersCredits: NASA.gov

1. Developing new (& updates) NASA Risk Management Handbook (NPD-1000C, NPR 8000.4B) on Risk Leadership and new NASA Standard for Safety & Mission Success Standard, devising contents, defining success criteria, using comparisons with DoD, DOE, NASA, ARMWG, and AI/ML as applied to risk management, and formulating presentations for funding.
2. Supported the revision of NPR 8000.4A, “Agency Risk Management Procedural Requirements,” published Dec. 16, 2008. This revision was the first to include Risk-Informed Decision Making (RIDM) as the new front-end of NASA risk management, while retaining NASA’s traditional version of Risk Management, called Continuous Risk Management (CRM), as the back-end for managing the risks associated with the implementation of the alternative(s) selected under RIDM.
3. Supported as a “Contributing Author,” the development of the “NASA Risk-Informed Decision Making Handbook,” NASA/SP-2010-576, published in April 2010. This handbook provided a concise description of RIDM and the key areas of the RIDM process.
4. Supported as a “Contributing Author,” the development of the “NASA Risk Management Handbook,” NASA/SP-2011-3422, published November 2011. This handbook combines the material from the RIDM Handbook with expanded material on an enhanced version of CRM designed to interface with RIDM.
5. Supported as an “Additional Contributor,” the development of the first “NASA System Safety Handbook, Volume 1, System Safety Framework and Concepts for Implementation,” NASA/SP-210-580, published November 2011. This handbook presented a new framework and process for the implementation of System Safety in NASA that is in close coordination with Systems Engineering and Risk Management.
6. Supported as an “Additional Contributor,” the development of the second edition of the “Probabilistic Risk Assessment Procedures Guide for NASA Managers and Practitioners,” NASA/SP-2011-3421, published December 2011. This edition included new material, including a new chapter on Launch Abort Models.
7. Supported the development and presentation of System Safety and Risk Management training courses based on the new System Safety Handbook, Volumes 1 and 2 (draft), and the Risk Management Handbook, respectively.
8. Supported the development of a draft “System Safety Standard” and “System Safety Handbook, Volume 2.”
9. Supported the development of a “NASA Human-Rating Handbook,” which included interviews of numerous NASA astronauts and other experts involved in the human-rating process for assuring the safety of NASA human space flight hardware.

Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) and OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS)

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched on September 8, 2016 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on an Atlas V rocket. After a year orbiting the sun, OSIRIS-REx made a flyby of Earth on September 22, 2017, where it "borrowed" a small amount of Earth's orbital energy, assisting its approach to near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Approach begins in August 2018, when Bennu is more than 2 million km away from the spacecraft. As OSIRIS-REx approaches the asteroid, it will use an array of small rocket thrusters to match the velocity of Bennu in its orbit around the Sun. It will bring a minimum 2.1-ounce sample back to Earth for study. The mission will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth.

UPDATE: OSIRIS-REx will return to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, with material from asteroid Bennu. When it arrives, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will release the sample capsule for a safe landing in the Utah desert. The pristine material from Bennu – rocks and dust collected from the asteroid’s surface in 2020 – will offer generations of scientists a window into the time when the Sun and planets were forming about 4.5 billion years ago.

The OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS) was designed, built and tested at the University of Arizona and is a set of three cameras to provide critical support for the mission. The asteroid is first acquired through the PolyCam, an 8” Richey-Chretien telescope capable of detecting up to 12th mag objects. As features on the asteroid become resolvable, this telescope is used for preliminary mapping at a surface resolution of <25 cm. The four color filter mapping is then conducted by MapCam at a suite of phase angles. The final sampling sequence is documented by the wide field SamCam and gives the context for the recovered sample.

QARMS supported major reliability activities of Electrical Stress and Derating Analysis, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, Fault Tree Analysis, Worst Case Analysis, and Reliability Prediction. A number of problems were detected as a result of our studies, which were promptly corrected by the designers, facilitated by the close coordination between the design team and the reliability analysis team.

OSIRIS-REx BadgeOSIRIS-REx BadgeCredits: NASA.gov; arizona.edu; asteroidmission.org
Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON)

The Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), the newest addition to NASA’s fleet of Heliophysics satellites, launched on October 10, 2019. Led by UC Berkeley, scientists and engineers around the world are coming together to make ICON a reality.

On June 22, 2020, NASA’s ICON team released scientific data collected during the spacecraft’s first eight months in orbit to the public. The data release features observations from ICON’s four instruments — MIGHTI, FUV, EUV, and IVM — which have been observing the ins and outs of the ionosphere, the sea of charged particles high in the upper atmosphere..

QARMS' support of this project comprises Quality Assurance on Mandatory Flight Hardware, including conformal coating; crimp, cable and harness; box level final closure; pre-cap inspections of hybrids / microcircuits; and general and other workmanship and processes, through delivery of payload.

ICONCredits: NASA.gov; dev.icon.ssl.berkeley.edu
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
James Webb Space Telescope - JWSTCredits: NASA.gov

Webb will be the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope ever built and launched into space, and  will fundamentally alter our understanding of the universe. Working towards an October 2021 launch date in French Guiana, South America, Webb will search for the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, which will connect the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. With a mirror 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court, Webb will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, and will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth.

On Deceber 18, 2020, the five-layer sunshield of NASA’s fully-assembled JWST successfully completed a final series of large-scale deployment and tensioning tests. This milestone puts the observatory one step closer to its launch. “This is one of Webb’s biggest accomplishments in 2020,” said Alphonso Stewart, Webb deployment systems lead for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We were able to precisely synchronize the unfolding motion in a very slow and controlled fashion and maintain its critical kite-like shape, signifying it is ready to perform these actions in space.” 

QARMS provided lead auditor support for the Goddard Space Flight Center Supply Chain Management Program at several critical suppliers.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)

LRO is a robotic mission developed to map the moon's surface. After its first year of exploration, the LRO program was extended with a unique set of science objectives. LRO observations powered a plethora of exciting discoveries, giving us a new picture of our Moon. LCROSS' mission included confirming the presence or absence of water ice at our Moon's South Pole. LCROSS and LRO launched on Thursday, June 18, 2009. The LRO instruments return global data, such as day-night temperature maps, a global geodetic grid, high resolution color imaging, and the moon's UV albedo.

With a comprehensive data set focused on supporting the extension of human presence in the solar system, LRO helps identify sites close to potential resources with high scientific value, favorable terrain and the environment necessary for safe future robotic and human lunar missions. All LRO initial data sets are deposited in the Planetary Data System (PDS), a publicly accessible repository of planetary science information, within six months of primary mission completion.

QARMS' engineering team provided independent oversight of the design, development, integration, and test of the two spacecrafts for NASA Headquarters and NASA Ames Research Center.
LRO and LCROSSCredits: NASA.gov
Ares 1-X Integrated Hazard Analysis (IHA)
ARES 1x Test LaunchPhoto credit: AffirmDesign.com

Ares I-X was the first test flight of a launch vehicle in the Ares I program, developed by NASA for human spaceflight. Ares I-X was successfully launched on October 28, 2009 from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39B. More than 700 sensors were placed throughout the vehicle to collect data for use in future exploration missions.

QARMS provided the integrated system safety analysis of the highly successful Ares 1-X launch vehicle, including support for vehicle launch safety certification, preparation of hazard reports, and design review support for NASA Langley relative to the ARES I-X-Test Program and Test Flight scheduled at Kennedy Space Center in 2009.

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)

SOFIA is the largest airborne observatory in the world. Studying the universe at infrared wavelengths, SOFIA is capable of making observations that are impossible for even the largest and highest ground-based telescopes. She is an extensively-modified Boeing 747SP aircraft, carrying a reflecting telescope with an effective diameter of 2.5 meters (100 inches) mounted in the rear fuselage. SOFIA is based at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, California.

QARMS' Quality and Reliability Engineering teams supported the design and development of this airborne observatory. Operating and Safety Hazard Analysis (O&SHA) Reports on Critical Lift Operations associated with the Infrared Telescope into and out of the SOFIA aircraft at the NASA Dryden facility at Palmdale, California, and the NASA Ames facility were developed. Our technical expert conducted risk assessment and prepared the Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) for the SOFIA Open Door Operational Support System for NASA Dryden, NASA Ames and the German Space Agency, DLR. Our technical expert also developed and prepared the Reliability/Availability and Maintenance Engineering Plan for SOFIA's Aircraft and Telescope Systems at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

SOFIACredits: NASA.gov
Space Transportation System (STS)
STS and Space ShuttleCredits: NASA.gov QARMS' Safety, Reliability, and Quality Engineering and Assurance experts provided support for the NASA Ames Research Center design, development, test, integration, certification and operations for several years for Life Science payloads, including Space Shuttle, Spacelab, and ISS Payloads.