Improving safety and reliability of next generation launch vehicles

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is in the midst of a 25 year long process to improve its space transportation capabilities for both cargo and crewed missions. The objectives are to: 1. significantly increase safety and reliability, 2. reduce the cost of accessing low-earth orbit, 3. attempt to leverage commercial launch capabilities, and 4. provide a growth path for manned space exploration. The safety of next generation vehicles is a prime concern, and NASA aims to achieve orders of magnitude improvement in their safety levels as compared to today's manned launch vehicles, specifically NASA's Space Shuttle system. This paper discusses NASA's safety philosophy and its plans to implement probabilistic risk assessment techniques to identify promising technologies that will facilitate safety of advanced launch vehicle systems. Additionally, discussion focuses on NASA's plans to track safety improvement progress, through the conceptual and design phases, associated with development of next generation launch vehicles. In the current assessment process, practical principles for improving safety and reliability are being identified, developed, and implemented in the early stages of design to ensure that these meritorious goals are achieved.