BUS 5116 Written Assignment Unit 6 PDF

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Mars Climate Orbiter Failure Case Study

Name Removed for Anonymity Department of Business, University of the People BUS 5116: Operations Management Dr. MJ Tekin July 28, 2021

2 The Mars Climate Orbiter was launched on December 11, 1998, by NASA for the purpose of exploring Mars climate, surface, and atmosphere. However, the mission was not successful because NASA lost communication with the spacecraft. Later, NASA stated that the loss was due to translation failure of English in metric units. In other words, NASA metric units and the spacecraft builder nonmetric units were mismatched. After some investigations, Mars Climate Orbiter failure board identified eight contributing factors that caused the loss of the spacecraft. In this paper, quality approaches, methods, and tools to reduce these factors will be discussed. 1. “Errors went undetected within ground-based computer models of how small thruster firings on the spacecraft were predicted and then carried out on the spacecraft during its interplanetary trip to Mars” (Isbell & Savage, 1999). This factor was the cost of poor quality. All errors and malfunctions should have been identified and prevented. This step is highly valued when ground models are designed and built minimize any potential risk although it is costly and takes longer to find the errors and sources. Therefore, NASA should have done regular quality inspections and audits (James, 2011). 2. “The operational navigation team was not fully informed on the details of the way that Mars Climate Orbiter was pointed in space, as compared to the earlier Mars Global Surveyor mission” (Isbell & Savage, 1999). In this case we could see lack of passing on the details. The approach that could be employed was Management by Objectives (MBO) which means managers should clearly define the objectives of the project for their teams. By doing so, although everyone is working on a different thing, the whole team is working on a common objective (Knowles, 2011) 3. “A final, optional engine firing to raise the spacecrafts path relative to Mars before its arrival was considered but not performed for several interdependent reasons” (Isbell & Savage, 1999). The approach to be used in this case was Strategic Planning and Execution. Strategic planning and decisions help to take the right action at the right time. Management should employ strategic planning and execution methodology to achieve the planned results (Knowles, 2011)

3 4. “The systems engineering function within the project that is supposed to track and double-check all interconnected aspects of the mission was not robust enough, exacerbated by the first-time handover of a Mars-bound spacecraft from a group that constructed it and launched it to a new, multi-mission operations team (Isbell & Savage, 1999). The approach I propose for this factor is Self-Assessment Process. Since engineering system was not robust enough, senior management should have developed an integrated set of actions that were easy to assess to deliver and achieve the results they were looking for (Knowles, 2011). Managers should collect all negative and positive information about any possible issues and undertake continuous improvement (Deg, 2017). 5. “Some communications channels among project engineering groups were too informal” (Isbell & Savage, 1999). According to Deg (2017), managers should always be cautious about the communication between team members to avoid any complexity and confusion. Formal communication channels should be employed and be controlled by managers. Exchanged information should be accurate and authentic. This can create a high level of responsibility and production improvement (Formal and Informal Communication Channels - BBA|mantra, 2017). 6. “The small mission navigation team was oversubscribed, and its work did not receive peer review by independent experts” (Isbell & Savage, 1999). An oversubscribed team will face constant workload, and it leads to team’s inefficiency. Overall, it negatively affects the project process quality and desired results. As mission navigation teamwork was not peer reviewed, ISO 9000 Series Standards is recommended. According to Knowles (2011), the objective of ISO 9000 is giving quality assurance based on international standards. ISO 9000 will help the team and organization to operate efficiently, improve productivity, and reduce the costs. 7. “Personnel were not trained sufficiently in areas such as the relationship between the operation of the mission and its detailed navigational characteristics, or the process of filing formal anomaly reports” (Isbell & Savage, 1999). For this factor DMAIC methodology could be employed. DMAIC is the acronym of define, measure, analyze, improve, and control. The team management

4 can identify and decide which areas of the process require improvements, Define and Measure. Then they can analyze the collected data to improve the process, and also verify and control any changes through the process (James, 2011) By utilizing this approach, they could establish fully trained staff who are aware of all process steps. 8. “The process to verify and validate certain engineering requirements and technical interfaces between some project groups, and between the project and its prime mission contractor, was inadequate” (Isbell & Savage, 1999). For this factor Statistical Process Control or Control Chart could be employed. It is defined as “A graph used to study how a process changes over time” (Control Chart - Statistical Process Control Charts | ASQ, n.d.). The benefit of using control chart is that management can compare the process data overtime and conclude whether the process was in control or out of control. Overall, to consider this proposal, we should consider several factors. Finishing a project successfully depends on how much time we have. For example, some process such as getting ISO 9000 certification takes time. However, the most important factor we should consider is communication. Whether there is a short-term goal or a long-term goal, management should provide a formal communication channel to deliver the project objectives and receive feedback from team members. Also, any decision made at any steps should be clearly explained as it can build trust between all people involved in the project. So, all team members should have access to the project data during the entire process. In addition, management should make sure about data quality and accuracy. Moreover, all teams risk management should be assessed to ensure all future possible and unpredictable issues are managed properly and efficiently. At the end, we should understand that a very small mistake and error can cause a disaster like Mars Climate Orbiter failure. Therefore, a set of integrated and well-structured plans is required to deliver project objectives.

5 References Control Chart - Statistical Process Control Charts | ASQ. (n.d.). Asq.org. Retrieved July 27, 2021, from https://asq.org/quality-resources/control-chart#:~:text=Also%20called%3A%20Shewhart %20chart%2C%20statistical%20process%20control%20chart Deg, E. (2017, April 19). 6 Project Management Lessons from the Mars Climate Orbiter Failure. Enrico Degiuli’s Blog. https://enricodegiuli.wordpress.com/2017/04/19/6-project-management-lessonsfrom-the-mars-climate-orbiter-failure/ Formal and Informal Communication Channels - BBA|mantra. (2017, November 10). BBA|Mantra. https://bbamantra.com/formal-informal-communication-channels/ Isbell, D., & Savage, D. (1999, November 10). Mars Climate Orbiter Failure Board Releases Report. Science.ksc.nasa.gov. https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/mars/msp98/news/mco991110.html James, T. (2011). Operations Strategy. Bookboon.com. Knowles, G. (2011). Quality Management. bookboon.com...