- NASA Home
- > Offices
- > NASA Engineering and Safety Center
NESC News Subscription
Learn about the most current and challenging engineering activities being addressed by the NESC. Sign up to receive NESC News email updates
NESC Overview
What is the NESC? NASA Engineering and Safety Center's (NESC) mission is to perform value-added independent testing, analysis, and assessments of NASA's high-risk projects to ensure safety and mission success. The NESC engages proactively to help NASA avoid future problems. NESC is an independently funded program with a dedicated team of technical experts that provides objective engineering and safety assessments of critical, high-risk projects. This is the charge of the NESC: an organization dedicated to promoting safety through engineering excellence, unaffected and unbiased by the programs it is evaluating. The NESC is a resource and is meant to benefit the programs and organizations within the Agency, the Centers, and the people who work there. + Read More
 | Find answers to common questions. + Frequently Asked Questions Learn more about the NESC background and organization. + NESC Overview Presentation |
NESC Features
-
MLAS Launch
Max Launch Abort System, or MLAS, was successfully tested at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, July 8.
-
Composite Crew Module (CCM)
For the past three years, the NESC has been evaluating a composite crew module as an alternative to the baseline Orion design. A tiger team was formed between Orion and the NESC team recently to compare opportunities and challenges.
-
Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor (SBKF) Special Study
NESC team studies launch vehicle design to reduce weight and cost.
-
International Space Station (ISS) Solar Array Rotary Joints
NESC team supported the ISS Program Anomaly Root Cause Investigation.
-
Human Occupant Injury Factors for Orion Spacecraft Landings
NESC leads team to assess potential crew injuries during Orion landings.
NESC Latest News
| 09.24.09 - AIAA selects NESC's Dr. Mike Gilbert as the Hampton Roads Section Engineer of the Year AIAA Hampton Roads has awarded Dr. Michael Gilbert for his work on the NESC MLAS project. + Read More | |||
 | |||
| 07.08.09 - Virginian Pilot features successful test of MLAS Just after 6:25 a.m., NESC tested MLAS and the test went as planned. + Read More | |||
| |||
| 07.08.09 - Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) demonstration test was successful this morning at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. MLAS demonstrated an alternate concept for safely propelling a future spacecraft and its crew away from a problem on the launch pad or during ascent. + Read More | |||
| |||
Submitting Requests
MLAS Launch Video
The Max Launch Abort System launched at 6:26 a.m. EDT on July 8, 2009. Credit: NASA/Gary Banzinger 
MLAS Simulation Video
This video is provided by Wallops Flight Facility Mission Planning Lab. 
Organization Structure
 | Director, Ralph R. Roe, Jr. + Biography |
 | Deputy Director, Timmy R. Wilson + Biography |
 | Organization Structure + Read More |