Safety and Mission Assurance Technical Authority for the Mars 2020 Project

This paper describes the Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) processes and the role of the NASA-delegated Safety and Mission Assurance Technical Authority (SMATA) that together contributed to the Mars 2020 Project development through launch. The M2020 flight system development included many high heritage designs and new developments. Inheritance reviews at the subsystem level fully document and confirmed the level of inheritance. New developments for subsystems, assemblies, and instruments followed a standard phased development cycle per standards at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) through delivery to JPL Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO). SMA processes exercised oversight and insight through all phases including ATLO. SMA processes were adapted for oversight and insight of contributed instruments. SMA Disciplines at JPL managed approval of EEE Parts and design analyses, specification of mission environments and required testing and analyses as well as accepted completion of the required testing and analysis. Software Quality Assurance (SQA) oversaw all flight software development. All hardware processing and testing was completed under the watchful eye and approval of Hardware Quality Assurance (HQA). Finally, System Safety continually assured safe execution of all hazardous processes. Throughout development, SMA assessed risk resulting from anomalies, requirement waiver requests, and other technical risks. SMATA independently reported risk to the Project Manager, JPL Management, and NASA culminating in a Safety and Mission Success Review (SMSR) prior to launch.