ISO 17666: a risk management standard from space exploration
The success of space missions is dependent on minimising risk. Disasters such as the disintegration of the Columbia spacecraft in January 2003, while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, were claimed to be due to slipping safety standards. Consequently, in September 2003 all 11 members of NASA's space flight security panel, including engineers, scientists, executives and military officers, resigned.
Incidents like this illustrate how important risk management can be and with the release of a new standard, ISO 17666:2003, it should become much simpler to manage the risks, even in space exploration.
Every space project is intricate in detail, restricted and judged by cost, schedule keeping and technical performance. These considerations run parallel with political and economic aspects, the fact that the equipment is so valuable and the military precision necessary for space flight so crucial. With these key factors at stake, risk management has to be taken seriously.
Despite the complexity of space missions, the new standard offers guidance for every stage of a project while still being applicable to other industries. The main agenda is to minimise risk.
Thomas Deak, project leader of the new standard, said: 'ISO 17666 provides concise hints and tips, and requirements elaborating the risk management process. the concise and simple formulation of concepts is aimed at helping organisations to implement risk management, supporting them to achieve their quality, technical, cost and schedule performance objectives'.
ISO 17666 builds upon the requirements of ISO 14300-1:2001, space systems - programme management - part 1: structuring of a programme.
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