Safety & Mission Assurance Approaches During IMAP's Integration & Test

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission investigates two of the most important issues in space physics today - the acceleration of energetic particles and interaction of the solar wind with the interstellar medium. This revolutionary mission includes a suite of ten instruments that together resolve fundamental scientific questions. These instruments are provided by nine institutions globally, hosted on an observatory structure integrated by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (JHU/APL). IMAP successfully completed Systems Integration Review (SIR) in September of 2023, and has since completed core bus integration, integration of a number of instruments and begun system testing. During this phase of the project, the Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) role is critical in ensuring that work is performed and executed such that hardware and personnel are protected, nonconformances are accurately captured, understood, and addressed, and that mission requirements are met. This paper intends to provide context to IMAP SMA's broad approach to achieve these goals during integration and test (I&T), and describe in detail what those methods look like in daily execution. Specifically, this paper will include methods implemented for nonconformance documentation and management, transition of SMA support from payload teams to spacecraft teams, day-to-day SMA implementation and support through the environmental test campaign, and completing verification of safety & mission assurance requirements. We will also describe the approach in SMA resource planning to support these critical activities while tailoring for the technical complexity and scope of the mission. Lastly, the paper will conclude with lessons learned, both those incorporated into the approach for IMAP and for future missions.