The Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for launching the US Space Shuttles fleet. One of the most important aspects of vehicle preparation is the testing of the SRM, or Solid Rocket Motors, to ensure that they will be able to provide their thrust at launch. Without the SRM's operating perfectly, the Space Shuttle cannot reach orbit. They are tested in numerous ways right up to flight time, including pressure checks of their joints and seals - ensuring proper pressurization.

In 2004, NASA contracted with Dewetron to deliver five DEWE-4010 data acquisition systems with completely custom software, intended to replace the 1970's vintage DOS software that was used since the beginning of the Shuttle program, with an all-new and completely modern software interface.

Dewetron software engineering talent went to work on the project, which took nearly a year. The contract was worth more than a quarter of a million dollars, and Dewetron delivered on time and at budget.

One of the most time-consuming aspects of the way that the 1970's system worked was that it made the test engineers work for the computer, rather than the other way around. There is so much documentation required for everything that NASA does, that even the simplest test took hours to do it "by the book" and document it fully.

So NASA challenged Dewetron to build the documentation and workflow into the software. So, as a test runs, it is timed and analyzed by the software, and all events are logged into a database. When decision points come, they are processed, documented, and handled in accordance with the procedures that have been established for more than 20 years.

The result? A huge time savings for NASA, allowing them to not only do more important work in less time, but to do so with confidence that everything has been documented completely. Each user has a unique log-in and clearly defined access levels. Supervisors are required to approve certain steps in complete accordance with the paper test requirements.