Developing and Implementing a Process to Verify and Validate the NASA InSight Mission's Instrument Command Products

The NASA InSight Mars lander is a robotic spacecraft which is investigating the interior structure of Mars through a series of seismological measurements and experiments. Much of the commanding of activities performed by the instruments was done using ‘blocks’ - reusable functions written in Virtual Machine Language stored onboard the spacecraft- and sequences (series of commands) that were created by teams to operate their instruments. It was vital that these blocks and sequences (collectively called command products) be thoroughly examined prior to onboard execution using a comprehensive test program to reduce risk to the spacecraft and instruments and ensure smooth operations on the surface of Mars. The Verification and Validation (V&V) process that was designed and implemented during the months leading up to InSight's launch and landing successfully uncovered a number of issues that could have caused operational delays or impacted hardware. The process also helped adapt ground tools to better model onboard activities, create operational principles to avoid unintended consequences during flight, and generate a reference database for command product use during operations. This allowed InSight to meet its surface operations goals in the desired timeframe. This paper describes the development, implementation and results of InSight's command product V&V process, its contribution to mission success, and challenges faced.