The head of the U.S. space agencys Langley Research Center said he is pushing for "a very generous independent testing budget" for the newly created NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC).
The NESC, which will be headquartered at the Hampton, Va.-based field center with some 200 or more engineers spread throughout the space agency, was established in the wake of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident with the intent of giving more clout and independence to NASAs safety watchdogs.
Roy Bridges, who took over as Langleys director this month, said Tuesday that he wants the NESC to have sufficient budget to chase down safety concerns with the same kind of rigorous ground testing effort as the dramatic foam impact tests the Columbia Accident Investigation Board conducted this summer.
The tests, conducted at the Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, strongly substantiated the investigators belief that the chunk of insulating tank foam that struck Columbias left wing during liftoff caused sufficient damage to cause the destruction of the orbiter as it re-entered the Earths atmosphere Feb. 1.
In the months since the accident, the chair of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, retired U.S. Navy Adm. Harold Gehman, has publicly chastised NASAs Safety and Mission Assurance organization for lacking the clout and independence it needs to serve as an effective safety watchdog and called for reform. Other members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board have said that rigorous ground testing could have exposed the space shuttles susceptibility to foam impact damage before the accident occurred.
It is with those assessments in mind that Bridges, a retired Air Force general and former astronaut who was director of Kennedy Space Center during Columbias last mission, is setting out to empower NASAs cadre of safety experts.
"We believe that engineering independence equals safety and that this is the piece of the puzzle that has been missing," Bridges said.
The NESC will be directly overseen by Bridges special assistant Ralph Roe. Roe will report to both Bridges and Bryan OConnor, NASAs associate administrator for safety and mission assurance.
Although the NESC is not at present expected to have anything approaching veto power over launch decisions, Bridges predicted that "when NESC speaks, people will listen."
The NESC is expected to open its doors about Oct. 1, Bridges said. Although its responsibilities will eventually expand to include NASAs entire portfolio of missions and programs, Bridges said the NESCs initial focus will be on supporting NASAs efforts to return its three remaining space shuttle orbiters to flight operations as safely as possible.
Bridges declined to discuss the initial budget for the new organization. He did, however, say that he anticipates that the NESC will employ a mix of 200 to 250 full time and part time engineers within a matter of a couple years. A small core of those engineers will be based at the NESCs headquarters at Langley, with the majority spread throughout the agencies other nine field centers.
Bridges said more details about the NESC, including some preliminary projections about its early budgets, should be made public in October. In the meantime, Bridges made this prediction: "We believe we will have a substantial testing budget so we could mount a campaign like they did at the Southwest Research Institute."
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