An Accident Precursor Analysis Process Tailored for NASA Space SystemsAccident Precursor Analysis (APA) serves as the bridge between existing risk modeling activities, which are often based on historical or generic failure statistics, and system anomalies, which provide crucial information about the failure mechanisms that are actually operative in the system and which may differ in frequency or type from those in the various models. These discrepancies between the models (perceived risk) and the system (actual risk) provide the leading indication of an underappreciated risk. This paper presents an APA process developed specifically for NASA Earth-to-Orbit space systems. The purpose of the process is to identify and characterize potential sources of system risk as evidenced by anomalous events which, although not necessarily presenting an immediate safety impact, may indicate that an unknown or insufficiently understood risk-significant condition exists in the system. Such anomalous events are considered accident precursors because they signal the potential for severe consequences that may occur in the future, due to causes that are discernible from their occurrence today. Their early identification allows them to be integrated into the overall system risk model used to intbrm decisions relating to safety.
Document ID
20100012780
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Groen, Frank (NASA Headquarters Washington, DC United States)
Stamatelatos, Michael (NASA Headquarters Washington, DC United States)
Dezfuli, Homayoon (NASA Headquarters Washington, DC United States)
Maggio, Gaspare (Information Systems Labs., Inc. New York, NY, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2010
Subject Category
Air Transportation And Safety
Report/Patent Number
HQ-STI-10-027
Meeting Information
Meeting: PSAM 10: International Association for Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management (IAPSAM)