Understanding IV&IV in a safety critical and complex evolutionary environment: the nasa space shuttle program

Abstract

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an internationally recognized leader in space science and exploration. NASA recognizes the inherent risk associated with space exploration; however, NASA makes every reasonable effort to minimize that risk. To that end for the Space Shuttle program NASA instituted a software independent verification and validation (IV&V) process in 1988 to ensure that the Shuttle and its crew are not exposed to any unnecessary risks. Using data provided by both the Shuttle software developer and the IV&V contractor, in this paper we describe the overall IV&V process as used on the Space Shuttle program and provide an analysis of the use of metrics to document and control this process. Our findings reaffirm the value of IV&V and show the impact IV&V has on multiple releases of a large complex software system.