Learning from Space Operations: Lessons Learned in ESOC
- Paper number
IAC-07-D5.1.04
- Author
Mr. Stefano Scaglioni, European Space Agency/ESOC, Germany
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The experience in space operations includes both success and failures, but not everything is a lesson to be learned. The achievements linked to consolidated processes are mostly expected: they further confirm the standardised practice. Failures beyond the specifications are unavoidable. ESA lessons from space operations concentrate mostly on the unexpected experience, either positive or negative. A success to learn is the validation of an improved approach to manage mission and resources. A failure to learn is the highlighted weakness in a process supposed well validated. In the frame of the commitment to continual improvement the ESA OPS directorate has defined a process for managing lessons learned in their whole life cycle. The process is documented in the OPS Quality Management System. Three steps are implemented: identification (proposed lesson), processing (validated lesson) and disposition (enforced lesson). The collection of lessons learned occurs currently at project level. Within each mission the team members may report on the occurred unexpected experience and recommend a correct solution or a generic adaptation for the future. The exercise is mandatory at every project milestone and, once in routine operations, solicited every year. A pool of experts in different domains, nominated by the Management, is in charge of processing the lessons from the projects. Each expert has the skill sufficient to perceive the potential benefits at global level of the recommendations. The useful lessons are commented and escalated into a directorate database for further evaluation. A management board finally decides on the disposition of the lessons reported at directorate level. Typical envisaged solutions can be the enforcement of a new practice, the improvement of a procedure in the Quality Management System, an update of the European Co-operation Space Standards. This decision completes the life cycle of a lesson learned. At the date of abstract preparation 8 missions have recorded a total of 170 lessons. The team of 9 experts has already processed 38 records, 12 of them have been transferred into the directorate database. In parallel the collection process will be extended to the various services of the directorate. Formal interfaces have been defined to exchange lessons with customers (whether ESA internal or external) and partners (CNES). With the formalised management of lessons learned the ESA OPS directorate is confident to achieve further improvement in the preparation and execution of flying and future space missions and to provide useful feedback to spacecraft design and to infrastructure design.
- Abstract document