James Demacek

For over eight years managed, coordinated, and monitored personnel, instrument and spacecraft system safety programs during all phases of development, design, integration and launch. Created hazard analyses and generated safety data packages to support agency review panels in accordance with NPR 8715.7A and ensured compliance with requirements detailed in NPR 8719.24A. Oversaw safety within labs, integration facilities and at the launch site for NASA projects I was assigned to.

Developed and wrote safety hazard analyses for space-based Lidar (GEDI Instrument) deployed to the International Space Station (ISS) to ensure safety for ground-observers, aircraft and spacecraft arriving and departing the ISS. Based upon this analysis, approval was granted by the JSC Safety Panel in accordance with manned spaceflight requirements.

Oversaw Project Safety for ICESat-2/ATLAS during integration and test and the launch campaign at Vandenberg Space Force Base including special considerations (and implemented controls) for spacecraft testing with laser hazards while at the Payload Processing Facility and also while mounted on the launch vehicle at the Mobile Servicing Tower.

Lead System Safety Efforts on Landsat-9 through a difficult Payload Safety Working Group review and helped accurately assess severity of hazards by honing conservative estimates to help obtain approval for the Spacecraft to be delivered to the launch site.

Lead as Project Safety Manager for multiple projects including the Joint Polar Satellite System program (JPSS), a NASA/NOAA collaboration to provide Earth observing weather satellites, NEON (Near Earth Orbit Network) projects & Chief Safety and Mission Assurance Officer (CSO) for O2O, an optical modem scheduled to fly with the Artemis II mission. 

Was Interim Response Team (IRT) lead for mishap investigations where I not only conducted training on evidence collection and preservation protocols, but also developed plans to collect witness statements, electronic and photographic evidence and maintain chain of custody of evidence for NASA Mishap Review Boards (MRB).

For nearly nine years performed independent system safety analysis of the Strategic Systems Program (SSP) TRIDENT II D5 Strategic Weapons System (SWS) consisting of review of subsystem safety analyses (Preliminary Hazard Analysis, Operating and Support Hazard Analysis, Safety Requirements Criteria Analysis and Safety Assessment Reports.) and performs and produces System Level Safety analysis and System-of-Systems Safety Analysis in accordance with MIL-STD-882E and JSSSEH.

By request from the Missile Defense Agency, authored a safety study for the potential deployment of hypergolic systems on Ohio Class submarines to determine hazards, required mitigation and process for approval. Researched history of past use of hypergolic fuels on United Kingdom submarines and NASA analysis reports to provide baseline data. Identified and analyzed system and environmental hazards associated with dimethyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Listed significant technological barriers to be overcome before deployment could be considered addressing detection technology, firefighting and weapon jettison needs

Acted as technical and safety adviser to the SSP Principal for Safety during a safety and trade study for the use of laser initiation systems for Ohio class submarine missile ejection systems. Prepared a series of hazards and risk assessments as a trade between two alternative systems to help aid the SSP Technical director in determining future system modernization efforts.

Managed and served as integration safety engineer for a “Blue Ribbon Committee” to address the removal of ordnance system components outside of historical procedures. Applied NAVSEA OP-4 and OP-5, created, vetted and finalized the committee report. Aided in the development of FMECAs, fault trees, and basic event sensitivity analysis. Coordinated with a large contractor team to bring together all necessary disciplines for the completion of the evaluation tasks.

For six years, acted as the contractor system safety Principal for Safety representative for the D5 Life Extension program to replace obsolete TRIDENT II D5 Missile flight packages. Attended all engineering milestone meetings to provide independent oversight of the contractor safety efforts including safety boards, working meetings, and Nuclear Weapons Systems Safety Group approval.

Independently evaluated industrial hygiene issues for confined space and atmospheric contamination within the submarine. Reviewed test and sampling plans to ensure proper capture and analysis was conducted to ensure proper measurement and control of variables to develop accurate models of atmospheric conditions over time.

Evaluated and reviewed all alteration documents for system safety for both SSBN's and SSGN's. Each alteration document provides configuration control of the Strategic System. Reviews of these documents are used to identify new hazards and changes that require reevaluation of safety launch analyses and casualty analyses.

Supported the new SSP modernization program known as Shipboard Systems Integration (SSI). The SSI program sets the baseline for the Ohio Class (submarine) Replacement Program and provides large deltas to the currently deployed system requiring extensive safety analysis and reevaluation of an active and deployed system.

Co-authored and presented a tutorial on Risk Management at the 33rd International System Safety Society Conference in San Diego, CA (August, 2015). The tutorial detailed how safety engineers must learn to communicate safety risks to management using a common language and how to present safety risks as cost, schedule and performance risks.

Provided Electrical, Data, and Operation Sequence interface coordination for the Trident II D5 and SSGN Missile Systems for the Navy’s Strategic Systems Program (SSP) entailing engineering systems analysis. SSP Coordination process provides configuration management between subsystems to support the contractor team which designs and builds the Strategic Weapon System. 

Developed detailed coordination concepts for an on-board wireless submarine LAN in support of the US Navy, SSP, and Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command network requirements