NASA

TIMELINE

2019 - 2019

PLATFORMS

Web

CATEGORIES

Engineering, Space, Rockets

RESPONSIBILITIES

User Research, UX Design, Prototyping

As a UX Designer at NASA, I designed a solution to help rocket engineers navigate performance requirements’ usage contexts cross functionally preventing delays due to misaligned work.

Performance requirements are used by engineers in building the SLS (Space Launch System) & Orion spacecraft for the humanity’s next trip to the moon and beyond. NASA aims to launch a crewed Artemis 3 mission no earlier than 2026.

INTRODUCTION

At NASA, I worked on designing Iris, a solution to address cross-functional challenges faced by engineers developing the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis program. These engineers frequently encountered delays due to misaligned interpretations of performance and design requirements. Iris was designed to improve transparency, structure communication, and centralize critical data, preventing costly rework and maintaining morale as teams work toward humanity’s return to the Moon.

CENTRALIZED HUB ⚛️🗄️

The Centralized Hub in Iris is the cornerstone of collaboration for discipline engineers, providing them with a single source of truth for requirements, contexts, and related documentation. This hub ensures engineers can access and understand the broader ecosystem of dependencies, fostering a seamless integration of their subsystems into the larger mission framework.

Requirement Hub

Iris’s homepage serves as a central hub, offering engineers access to their owned requirements alongside attached usage contexts, verification documents, and rationale from other teams. By consolidating this information, engineers can quickly understand their responsibilities and dependencies, making collaboration more efficient.

Usage Contexts

Within a specific requirement view, engineers can explore verification activities chosen by other teams, including their rationale and data flow across related documents. This holistic perspective reinforces the importance of collaboration and reminds engineers that their work is part of a larger, interconnected system.

COMMUNICATION TOOL 💬📋

Iris integrates communication directly into the data context, giving engineers tools to align on decisions and collaborate effectively. Whether through open discussions or formalized requests, this feature addresses the challenges of unstructured communication and lost decision points in a decentralized environment.

Discussion Board

To foster cross-team collaboration, Iris includes designated discussion spaces for each discipline team. These spaces enable engineers to align on design assumptions early and often, reducing discrepancies discovered during milestone reviews. Engineers can highlight resolved points within discussions, pushing them to the top of the thread for quick reference, creating a structured record of critical decision points.

RFI Form - (Request For Information)

For situations where discussions lack the granularity or privacy needed, engineers can utilize Requests for Information (RFIs). These formal requests ensure that sensitive data or detailed documentation needs are addressed. RFIs are archived for future reference, building a robust knowledge base that informs future designs.

VISUALIZED LIBRARY 🕸️📚

The Visualized Library empowers engineers to navigate the intricate web of requirements, documents, and team relationships. By offering intuitive visualizations and detailed tracking, it provides the transparency needed to design systems that integrate seamlessly into the broader mission.

Relationship Mindmaps

A visualization of the relationships between requirements, documents, and teams provides engineers with a broad overview of the SLS development ecosystem. This tool helps engineers identify dependencies, supporting the design of integratable subsystems. As projects evolve, these visualizations adapt to emphasize the most critical connections, enhancing transparency and collaboration.

Relationship Lists

For a more detailed view, Iris offers a list-based representation of document connections. Engineers can easily track how their documents interface with others, ensuring alignment on design decisions and proper use of shared data. This consolidated view prevents miscommunication and ensures consistency.

Version History

NASA’s engineers often rely on historical decisions to guide their current designs, whether from recent months or decades-old programs like the Space Shuttle. Iris’s Version History functionality provides a robust trail of decision-making, enabling engineers to trace and reference past actions with ease. This feature ensures decisions are well-documented, supporting traceability and accountability.

REFLECTION

Designing Iris was a rewarding challenge, as it required addressing the nuanced needs of cross-disciplinary teams working on one of NASA’s most ambitious projects. By centralizing data, structuring communication, and improving transparency, Iris empowers engineers to work more collaboratively and efficiently. The experience underscored the importance of user-centered design in solving complex problems, especially in high-stakes environments like NASA.