The Mars Surveyor Operations Project delta-mission Critical Design Review was a special review of the Project's planning work by a group of independent technical and management personnel from outside the Project.
After major design work has been completed or preparations for major flight activities have been completed, we normally ask a group of people not connected with the Project, but who have extensive experience in the kind of work we are doing, to do a critical review of what we have done as a test to assure us we've done the right things.
This review was termed a delta-review (delta, in this case, means an additional increment, or an additional review) because we had already reviewed the Mars Global Surveyor mission design when it was established several years ago. Critical Design Review means it is the last review before we start to implement what has been designed.
With the damage to the MGS spacecraft's solar array yoke and the subsequent need to modify the mission design because of the need to aerobrake with less intensity, we had to redesign MGS's mission, and hence the need to have our outside reviewers make sure we were still doing the right things. When the review group finds that we have past their tests, only then do we ago ahead with our designs or plans. Other things we review in this manner are the Project's requirements, the spacecraft design, the readiness to launch, and the readiness for other major operational events such Mars Orbit Insertion or mapping.
The delta-Mission Critical Design Review for MGS had the following objectives: first, to validate the strategy and design for the modified MGS mission including our plans for the upcoming solar conjunction period; second, to validate the flight team's readiness for the MGS science phasing orbit. The review of the readiness for the secondary phase of aerobraking will be done next August.
The review group found that the Project met the objectives and thus we are proceeding with the implementation of the new mission design and our operations plans.
The following graphics will give you a flavor of the kind of material that has been studied in the process of designing the new MGS missions and what information was presented to the review group, but they are only a small part of the information discussed in this day long review.
Excerpts from Introduction and Objectives
Excerpts from Mission Progress & Status