How and what to do to integrate, test and qualify NASA Facility Class payloads on the JEM-EF

Abstract

The International Space Station (ISS) has patterned the process by which payloads or experiments are qualified and integrated after the processes used for experiments on or in the Shuttle. There are similarities in the physical activities and in the documentation that is developed by the payload projects and the ISS Payload Office to what the Shuttle Experiment Projects and Shuttle Mission Manager teams performed to successfully fly on the Shuttle. Because the ISS uses many more systems and operates many experiments there are additional tasks that payload projects must accomplish to get approval to fly. For NASA payloads that are attached to the JEM-EF there are additional tasks that the payload project and NASA's Payload Office must accomplish. This paper describes the processes that the Low Temperature Microgravity Physics Facility (LTMPF) Payload follows or will follow to meet the qualification requirements imposed by JPL, by the Microgravity Research Program Office at MSFC, by the ISS Payload Office at JSC, and by NASD A's ISS Integration Office. The integration of the LTMPF payload, its instruments and the verification of the interfaces (mechanical, thermal, power, telemetry, and command) with the ISS is an integral part of the qualification process and will be developed in this paper. This integration process starts at JPL and is continued at the launch site where the Copyright © 2001 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. The U. S. Government has a royalty-free license to exercise all rights under the copyright claimed herein for Governmental purposes. All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner. payload will be launched on the shuttle or on NASD A's H-HA expendable rocket following a successful Certification of Flight Readiness (CoFR). The first actual (live) checkout of ISS payloads with the ISS will be after the payload is installed in the ISS or attached to an exposed attachment site. The ISS payload office and NASDA provide ISS simulators that payloads can use at their development site or at the launch site; but there are no actual ISS subsystems to mate with to ensure compatibility. Therefore the payloads must take on additional verification tasks to ensure their hardware and software will operate successfully with the ISS. This paper will provide a payload's view of the process, establish the flow or timeline in relation to the payload development schedule and discuss the relationships with the ISS Payload Office, the Research Program Office, the launch site Integration Office and NASDA for the