NSROC: Safety IS our #1 Concern!

Safety is the #1 concern of every task order and every sounding rocket mission. From system design and manufacturing to environmental testing and range and launch operations, each safety requirement is clearly defined. The NSROC Safety Plan addresses institutional, ground and flight safety for domestic and foreign ranges; the Range Safety Policies and Criteria for Goddard Space Flight Center/Wallops Flight Facility (RSM 2002) describes NASA and Wallops Code 800 requirements; and individual safety plans (the Ground Safety Plan, the Flight Safety Plan, etc.) address section-specific requirements. Meeting those requirements is an absolute mandate.

The NSROC Safety Officer

Reporting directly to the NSROC Program Manager, the NSROC Safety Officer is the single point of contact for OSHA and NASA safety compliance. He ensures that Ground and Flight Safety Plans are implemented through the Mission Manager and coordinates all safety operations with the WFF Safety Office. The Mission Manager, in turn, is responsible for ensuring that the Mission Team and all team operations are fully compliant with applicable safety regulations and procedures. At ranges other than WFF, RSM 2002 and local range safety regulations are the governing documents.

Training

Caution and precaution are key elements in Safety Training; both are incorporated into the extensive training provided the NSROC Technical Staff. NSROC's most important concern is safety – no job or activity is so important that it cannot be performed in a safe manner. Vital to a successful Safety and Health Program is the ability for supervisors and employees to identify and understand the hazards to which they may be exposed and to be able to prevent harm to themselves, co-workers, and the environment. Education, along with continued and regular training, is an integral part of everyone's professional job requirements. Similarly, Awareness Training is fundamental to the well-being and safety of each employee's job. Used with permission of the OSHA Advisor Website (http://www.the-osha-advisor.com), the pictures below demonstrate a lack of safety awareness and the repercussions that can result.

NSROC has access to web-based Safety Training courses which are mandatory for all employees. In addition, courses in Hand Soldering, Electrostatic Discharge Control, Polymeric Application, Surface Mount Technology, Fiber Optic Termination and Crimp, Cable and Harness Fabrication certify that NSROC employees are not only qualified to do the work, but to maintain the stringent requirements for functional and environmental safety required by EPA, OSHA, NASA, and the Union.

Hazardous Operations

A hazardous operation is a job that involves hazardous materials, conditions, or equipment that could result in injury or property damage if you don't follow special precautions. An example would be solid fuel propellants, which are controlled explosives. The handling of sounding rocket propellants, chemicals, and, in some cases, cleaning fluids must comply with RSM 2002 safety requirements for hazardous operations. All personnel performing potentially hazardous operations (explosives handling, hazardous energy, chemical transfer, etc.) are trained and experienced. These personnel are certified or directly supervised by certified personnel when performing these operations. NSROC personnel use established safety procedures when performing hazardous operations.

QUALITY ASSURANCE and ISO

NSROC has infused quality into every stage of the mission life cycle; the result is outstanding performance, outstanding products and outstanding success!

The NSROC Program received ISO 9001 registration on 20 October 2000 and transitioned to ISO 9001:2000 in Sept '03. Re-certification for three additional years was achieved in September 2006. All audits subsequent to that date have been successfully passed. This multidimensional, multifunctional program operates in a dynamic environment where fluctuating workloads, scheduling deadlines and unique technical requirements demand total team commitment. Every team member understands NASA's mandate for successful performance; every team member knows that quality is the key to that success.

Strict quality procedures, processes and standards are enforced at every level of NSROC operations. The success of every mission depends on quality. The NSROC Quality Manual (NQM) documents policies, processes and procedures that are compliant with ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems requirements and meets all NSRP quality requirements. As a process-based organization, our basic Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) and a systems engineering lifecycle model provide the basic quality architecture to ensure that all applicable elements of our ISO Quality Management System are fully implemented. Commitment to continuous process improvement guarantees that the Program meets and exceeds all required functionality and performance standards The NQP is a living document. It provides the baseline of activity for the NSROC program, and is modified whenever a process improvement is implemented. In a very real sense, the NQP and its online supporting system are the heart of the NSROC approach to program implementation. It provides:

	The guideline for performance of every activity
	The basis for process improvement
	A repository of organizational procedures that use lessons learned as a foundation for further quality improvements.

Quality People

Without application and use, Quality would be reduced to a meaningless abstract; only when quality is fused with performance is the end result success. To guarantee high performance, NSROC employees were hired in accordance with very high educational, experiential and performance standards.

	NSROC Senior Managers average 24 years of senior managerial and 30 years of relevant technical experience.
	NSROC administrators average 20 years of relevant business, accounting, procurement and financial planning experience.
	NSROC Machine Shop employees average more than 13 years of hands-on experience specific to the sounding rocket industry.

Quality Tools:

Every member of the NSROC Team has immediate online access to the Quality Manual and the Master Procedure Index with its detailed breakout of each and every function related to a sounding rocket mission. The online NSROC Corrective Action Tracking System (CATS) facilitates the initiation, response and corrective/preventive action tracking of quality issues. NSROC can access Nonconformance Reports, Change Request Reports, and Lessons Learned through the NSROC SQA Switchboard. We have migrated our legacy document control database to Adept by Synergis. This migration ushers in a new era, incorporating all mission and project-specific engineering documentation into Adept for use by the entire NSROC Team.

The Platinum FaroArm, considered by most to be the most accurate and advanced Computer-aided Manufacturing Measurement (CMM) tool. Is NSROC's primary means of verifying the specifications of each rocket component, performing CAD-to-part analysis, and double checking accuracy through reverse engineering. The arm uses 3D measurement technology and customized zero-training Soft-Tools, with or without CAD. Depending on the type of measurement performed (Repeatability,Length, Accuracy), FaroArm measurements are accurate between +.0002 and +.0034.

Outstanding Success!

As of 10/1/06, NSROC has completed 171 sounding rocket missions with a vehicle success rate of 96%. Task Order performance, meticulously tracked in manufacturing, fabrication and testing, has an equally impressive success rate of 98%.

In 2003 and 2004, NSROC was a finalist for the Goddard Space Flight Center 's “Contractors Excellence Award”.