NASA looks forward to 30 more years at IV&V Facility

Aug. 4—FAIRMONT — NASA's Independent Verification and Validation program is celebrating its 30th anniversary at the Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility in the I-79 Technology Park.

Although no official celebrations were planned, the center has nonetheless been a prominent presence in the community for the last three decades.

"When you look at the overall economic impact that we had on the area, it was about $140 million dollars," Wes Deadrick, director of the IV&V program, said. "We bring in hundreds of jobs into the local area, we employ 260 contractors and 50 civil servants. So not only are we bringing jobs into the area, we're bringing opportunities for graduates from Fairmont State University from West Virginia University.

The facility's science outreach program also exposes children at schools across the state to the possibilities NASA offers. They were also instrumental in establishing robotics as a school sport in the state.

The work that's done at the mysterious building with the satellite dishes just off the highway is safety focused. They ensure that the highest profile projects and programs do not end in failure by examining software for errors and faults prior to deployment. It's crucial computer work, especially for the manned missions that NASA works on. The agency established the program after the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster in 1986. Although at the time software failure did not contribute to the tragedy at the time, NASA foresaw the critical role that computers would play in the future.

Among the highest profile missions they've worked have been all of the Mars rovers, the James Webb Space Telescope, space shuttle and the International Space Station, and the jewel of the manned space program, Artemis. Artemis seeks to return astronauts to the moon, idealistically, by 2025. Delays and overruns notwithstanding. In total, the IV&V center has looked at software on 212 missions, with 143 of them classified as human rated missions.

"Artemis had its first unmanned flight last year," Deadrick said. "And now we're working to Artemis III and beyond which will be missions flown with astronauts on board. We, as an agency, want to do everything to make sure those astronauts come home to their friends and family."

Tom Devine, a professor in computer science and electrical engineering at West Virginia University, said that Verification and Validation are the two main areas the center focuses on. Verification concerns itself with, 'is the code doing what I told it to do?' Validation asks, 'Did I tell the code to do the right thing in the first place?' Before something is sent into space where techs can't work on it, it's important to ensure that.

Another key piece of software is cybersecurity. The facility ensures that foreign state actors are unable to interfere with vital mission operations. Devine said that even though it's not as simple as a kid in a basement hacking into the ISS over the internet, there are still a lot of wireless signals sent between earth and vessels in space. It's possible to get into the middle of those points and intercept any transmissions. It's not an easy task however, so NASA is mostly concerned with foreign state actors with the money to try stealing information or make devices crash.

Outreach is another important mission for the facility, according to Kaci Reynolds, associate director of the IV&V program, who handles the business dealings for the facility. She works with the Office of Legislative Affairs to ensure that the IV&V program has its fingers on the congressional pulse, so they can anticipate changes and react accordingly in order to understand any impact on their budget and workforce.

Reynolds is also a West Virginia native. Working for NASA seemed like a stretch of the imagination to her as a child.

"Part of that is bringing some of this stuff local, tapping into our local kids," Reynolds said. "Some schools in the area might not get as much attention. They might not even imagine that some of this stuff is even a possibility for them much less than West Virginia. So it shows them that that kind of stuff is out there."

West Virginia might not have a prominent connection to the stars, but what it does have is nothing minor either. Katherine Johnson, for whom the building was named after in 2019, was a pioneering mathematician from the state who found a way to calculate where a vessel would land on de-orbiting. Homer Hickam, author of "Rocket Boys," wrote about his dreams of becoming a NASA engineer as a child growing up in West Virginia. The book was later made into a movie, "October Sky."

NASA, and the IV&V program are building on that legacy through their outreach. The facility provides internships and opportunities to graduates from Fairmont State and WVU, as well as scholarships to high school students. They're a common presence in schools throughout the area.

"I've had at least five students that ended up working full time," Devine said. "I think they've invested in local education in a dramatic way and given amazing opportunities to students. I mean, how cool is it to say, you worked for NASA? It's pretty cool."

Here's to 30 more, Devine said.

Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com