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NASA Technology helps industrial leaders build facilities

Virtual reality software, originally developed by NASA engineers to
help explore Mars, now is 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 Jos‚, Calif., was granted a license for further development of
the platform. RCT now is 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 Jos‚," 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. "

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