WA 6 Case NASA CASE PROJECT MARS PDF

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NASA PROJECT MARS MISHAP CASE ANALYSIS...

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Topic: Mars Climate Orbiter

Department of Business Administration, University of the People BUS 5115: Operations Management. W.A. 6: Case Analysis over the Mars Climate Orbiter Failure Instructor: Dr. Stacey Anderson December 22nd, 2021

Topic: Mars Climate Orbiter

Case: Analysis over the Mars Climate Orbiter Failure Report

Case Abstract. NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter MCO, which was a key program in 1998 to explore the planet Mars, consisted of launching, directing and landing a spacecraft to serve as “communications relay for the Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space probes” according to the official website of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA (Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA, 2000). The identified root failure consisted of faulty programming of the software that controlled the direction of the spacecraft. Because of the missing translation between the English metric system of programmation and the Newton measures based on the decimal system, and typically used on the commanding of the rocket thrusts. As a consequence, the spacecraft suffered an unwanted derailment and disintegration in Mars’ atmosphere on September 23, 1999, three months after launching. (NASA, 1999) These are the reported causes that contributed to the root failure: a) Errors went undetected on the programmation stage; b) The operational navigation team was not fully communicated about the details of the mission; c) The team omitted the final firing test over the spacecraft’s engines. d) Certain communication channels were too informal; e) The team was too busy and the project did not receive a peer review assessment; and f) there was a weakness on the checking and monitoring system over the spacecraft. Based on the Mishap Investigation Board Report1, and following the general guidelines about case analysis, the assignment inquires about the quality approach, methods and tools to handle the 8 causes of failure and the implementation plan of the resulting proposals.

1 Complete report available at https://llis.nasa.gov/llis_lib/pdf/1009464main1_0641-mr.pdf and a complete analysis of the report elaborated by Chris Johnson, on The Detection, Reduction and Mitigation of Failure in Safety-Critical Systems (Works Cited)

Topic: Mars Climate Orbiter

Which quality approaches, methods and tools would you propose to mitigate each of the 8 contributing factors identified in the release? Total Quality Management TQM, stands for a comprehensive, detailed, complete and universal quality control system. In words of the Government Accountability Office’s Director of Government Business, Mr. J. Williams Gadsby, “Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management approach that strives to achieve continuous improvement of quality through organization wide efforts based on facts and data.” (GAO.GOV, 1993) However, given the complexity of the processes, products and deliverables, the TQM should be adjusted or complemented with a conjunction of strategies that reassure the expected results. In that sense, Six Sigma DMAIC should have been the starting point of implementation in all 8 business units of NASA and in all of the division departments of the project. Lean Six Sigma LSS provides managers with insights and immediate contact with relevant issues on their projects (Juliani & De Oliveira, 2019, 1227). Out of the root causes of the MCO failures, those related to the insufficient control measures could have been avoided during the implementation of the Measure and Control phases of DMAIC. The Measure itself, should have sufficed to found out about the incongruences between the British metric system and the Newton Decimal system of the engines thrusts. On the other hand, the causes related to miscommunication and absences of peer review could have been managed directly under TQM. That establishes a communication model that flows in all directions; up, down and external between sender and receiver or better, decoder. (Choudhary & Rathore, 2013) Finally, an overall continuous improvement philosophy such as Toyota's Kaizen, should help with the detected cultural biases that might have been affecting the check and balances of the project, in phases such as, for example; not having a peer review over the engineering documents.

Topic: Mars Climate Orbiter

Which considerations would you take in order to implement your proposals within the organization? The TQM should be a comprehensive and universal plan within the organization. However, the higher the complexity level of the product or service, the more difficult the deployment and consolidation of the TQM. NASA deliverables are one of the most complex products and services of the world; therefore, the TQM implementation would require accompanying systems such as certifications, quality assurance and constant audit of the TQM processes. Under the precept that no system is perfect, NASA requires a constant review of processes and results. In that sense, a combination of Hoshin Management and Conventional Management is ideal to attain the comprehensive deployment of TQM (Knowles, 2011, 86)

Now, as NASA was actually implementing TQM on their majority of their units, as per the report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office GAO, by 1999, all out of the 8 NASA units had been implementing TQM with a variety of results; However, in a previous report issued in 1994, it was a common finding that NASA employees “were not empowered to make changes, experienced some resistance to measure processes or received insufficient managerial support” (GAO.GOV, 1993) If that circumstance prevailed until 1998, it is fair to conclude that part of the core errors that conducted to the mission failure; especially those related to communications, had been originated either in the faulty implementation of the TQM or the absence of additional quality strategies such certifications, quality assurances or constant improvement toolkits.

Topic: Mars Climate Orbiter

Conclusion There is no perfect quality control or quality assurance system. NASA’s TQM system was almost at completion by the time of CMO failure. Therefore, the best comprehensive, universal and effective quality strategy is the one that combines different elements starting by DMAIC Define, Measure, Analise, Improve and Control methodology, but including TQM, certifications and culture related elements such as Kaizen and Hoshin.

Topic: Mars Climate Orbiter

Work Cited Choudhary, M., & Rathore, N. (2013, July 7). Role of Effective Communication in Total Quality Management. IJSER.org. Retrieved December 22, 2021, from https://www.ijser.org/researchpaper/Role-of-Effective-Communication-in-Total-Qualit y-Management.pdf GAO.GOV. (1993, April 14). TQM Implementation at NASA | US GAO. Government Accountability Office. Retrieved December 21, 2021, from https://www.gao.gov/products/ggd-93-28r James, T. (2011). Chapter 7 Quality. In Operations Strategy (p. 25). Bookboon. Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA. (2000, 1 1). Mars Climate Orbiter - Mars Missions - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved December 22, 2021, from https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mars-climate-orbiter Johnson, C. (2001, Jan 1). The Detection, Reduction and Mitigation of FAILURE IN SAFETY-CRITICAL SYSTEMS. ONE.DVI. Retrieved December 20, 2021, from http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~johnson/Mars/one.pdf Juliani, F., & De Oliveira, O. (2019, December 17). Lean Six Sigma principles and practices under a management perspective. Production Planning & Control, 31(15), 1223-1244. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2019.1702225 Knowles, G. (2011). 8. Strategic Quality Management. In Quality Management (p. 85). Bookboon. Mars Climate Orbiter Mishap Investigation Report. (1999, Nov 10). Phase 1 Report. llis.nasa.gov. Retrieved December 20, 2021, from https://llis.nasa.gov/llis_lib/pdf/1009464main1_0641-mr.pdf

Topic: Mars Climate Orbiter

NASA. (1999, November 10). Mars Climate Orbiter Failure Board Releases Report, Numerous NASA Actions Underway in Response. NASA. Retrieved December 22, 2021, from https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/1999/99-134.txt...