Quality assurance planning for lunar Mars exploration

Abstract

A review is presented of the tools and techniques required to meet the challenge of total quality in the goal of traveling to Mars and returning to the moon. One program used by NASA to ensure the integrity of baselined requirements documents is configuration management (CM). CM is defined as an integrated management process that documents and identifies the functional and physical characteristics of a facility's systems, structures, computer software, and components. It also ensures that changes to these characteristics are properly assessed, developed, approved, implemented, verified, recorded, and incorporated into the facility's documentation. Three principal areas are discussed that will realize significant efficiencies and enhanced effectiveness, change assessment, change avoidance, and requirements management.