Pathfinding Model-Based Mission Assurance: S&MA Representation & Interaction within MBSE

The Model-Based Mission Assurance (MBMA) Program, led by John Evans within the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) at NASA is leading the charge in terms of integrating mission assurance into MBSE for flight projects. While OSMA operates with a charter at the agency level, the JPL contingency of support, including Steve Cornford and Nicholas Waldram, has a unique role in tying MBSE into the S&MA discipline. One of the advantages of operating within JPL is the exposure to flight projects which have adopted MBSE into several phases of the project lifecycle. Europa Clipper is currently in Phase B, utilizing the largest implementation of MBSE on a JPL flight project, simultaneously innovating the technology space and pathfinding for future efforts by constructing and developing the supra-model architectures with plugins such as the Europa Validation Framework (EVF), which is used to efficiently validate a large, complex model quickly and thoroughly. Besides the project level insight and resources, JPL has also invested significantly into MBSE from three distinct angles, via the Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) team, the Integrated Model-Centric Engineering (IMCE) group, and the Innovation Foundry. Through our development we have utilized the expertise and advice of the CAE to guide us towards sound modeling approaches and greatly enhanced tool integration to meet stakeholder needs. To broaden our thinking “beyond the gates” of JPL and to test our thinking on an agency level we have become involved with the NASA's agency-wide MBSE Infusion and Modernization Initiative (MIAMI). Through our work in the Cross Lifecycle Modeling (CLM) team we have been able to develop and test out our technologies and modeling patterns. While facing a number of configuration management hurdles in gaining and distributing access to our various tools which lie behind JPL firewalls, these difficulties have proven useful in terms of understanding limitations and how to circumvent these issues. The ground-level technology troubleshooting is critical to realize a tangible stakeholder integration.