Контрольная работа по "Английскому языку"

Michael Braukus

Headquarters, Washington             March 14, 2002

(Phone: 202/358-1979) 

Victoria Kushnir

Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

(Phone: 650/604-0176) 

RELEASE: 02-51 

NASA TECHNOLOGY HELPS INDUSTRIAL LEADERS BUILD FACILITIES 

     Virtual reality software, originally developed by NASA

engineers to help explore Mars, is now being used by a

leading petrochemical company to build and plan operations

for a complex industrial facility in 'virtual world'

simulations. 

The Mars Map virtual reality software, developed at NASA Ames

Research Center in the heart of California's Silicon Valley,

guided scientists through the agency's very successful 1997

Mars Pathfinder mission. The tool allows mission scientists

and operations personnel to command and control remote

robotic spacecraft within a virtual environment.  

Recently, Reality Capture Technologies (RCT), Inc. of San

Jose, Calif., was granted a license for further development

of the platform. RCT is now deploying this productivity- and

life-cycle information-management tool at a new Shell

Chemicals process plant currently under construction in

Geismar, La.   

"Our product, based on NASA technology, will allow Shell to

create and validate start-up procedures, in addition to a

construction-feasibility review, and commence training in a

virtual environment months before the plant is fully built,"

said Reality Capture Technologies' Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Ted Blackmon.  

RCT's software enables engineers to simulate a plant

environment in order to review its 'constructability,' a

process of evaluating the design, scheduling, cost and

resource planning to assess the possibility of implementing

such a design. The software also allows engineers to create

operating procedures, training and documentation. Similar to

pilot training on flight simulators, this technology enables

plant operators to get the training they need in a virtual

environment.  

"What makes this software even more unique is how simple it

is," said Blackmon.  "It is almost like a video game where

you hold a joystick and walk around making sure that

everything is working right. Only in this case, you walk

around a not-yet-built Shell plant," he added. 

By fusing software systems used during the design stage with

those used during construction, the software provides virtual

access to a construction site and permits project personnel

to manage, assess, control and respond more effectively to

changes in the plant's complex construction. Like space

explorers who use Mars Map to learn how to get around the Red

Planet, facility operators can use the new tool to learn how

to better 'pilot' the sophisticated and expensive industrial-

plant asset.

 

"Operators can now easily access and understand engineering

information that is critical to operations, which makes their

job much easier and safer," said Blackmon.    

An Ames science team originally developed Mars Map to create

a photographic-quality rendering system. Mars Map allowed

researchers to better understand the surface of Mars and

perform more effective science by providing an accurate

visual representation of the planetary terrain.  

"The Mars Pathfinder mission was the first test of this new

class of photo-realistic, virtual-reality systems," said Dr.

Michael Sims of Ames, who managed the Mars Map development

team. "Mars Map made a big difference in our understanding of

Mars during Pathfinder, and made us realize that this

technology could be an extremely powerful tool for the

rendering of the world." 

"RCT uniquely addresses the link between various stages of a

facility's 'life-cycle,' leveraging information generated

during the design stage through construction and subsequently

into operations and maintenance," said Blackmon. "By

leveraging advanced software, originally developed at NASA

for the space program, we are able to effectively 'bridge the

islands of automation' that exist in the

engineering/construction/operations industry today, and

interconnect traditionally stand-alone software systems into

an end-to-end distributed computing platform."  

"This company is a resident of the Ames Technology

Commercialization Center, a technology incubator located in

San Jose," said Phil Herlth of the Ames Commercial Technology

Office. "Their commercial partnership with a major chemical

company is another example of a successful transfer of a

space technology that is now benefiting people here on earth.

" 

                          -end- 
 

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