Europa Clipper Payload Verification and Validation: Instrument Delivery into System Integration

Abstract

NASA's Europa Clipper mission is designed to investigate the habitability of the Jovian moon Europa with a suite of 10 science instruments. The project is now past its project system integration review and in the middle of instrument deliveries to Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO). The payload verification and validation (V&V) program is thus in the process of receiving and auditing instrument-provided verification evidence, executing the payload-level software interface testing campaign, and beginning a series of checkouts on the flight instruments in ATLO. Previous work described the set of planned verification activities that we developed to ensure consistent V&V coverage across all of the instruments, and at the instrument, payload, and ATLO levels. This paper describes the implementation of that plan, including statistics on scope of the work and its execution, adjustments/additions to the original plans, how the team managed priorities with limited resources, and other lessons learned. We first describe the payload V&V oversight of instrument-level verification item closures. We describe the assessments performed to determine V&V status at instrument deliveries, and how we managed shortfalls and workload. We then describe the software interface V&V campaigns that the payload team is executing, summarizing the verification work and resources required to perform it. Finally, we describe the V&V role in post-delivery activities for the instruments including a summary of pre-ATLO (PATLO) testing and early ATLO activities. We conclude the paper by reflecting on how the executed V&V program compared to the planned program, and what strengths and challenges the program as designed offered in the execution phase. We then briefly summarize the work remaining as the payload V&V program enters its final phases prior to launch.