NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

KSC Next Gen Site ___Questions? Comments?

Home Home <previous simulation___next simulation>

SpaceSim - Spaceport Simulation

An Object Oriented Discrete Event Simulation

March 28, 2007

The Project ¦ Contact

The Project:

The NASA vision for the spaceport of the future entails the transition over time from spaceports that are very high-cost and only capable of a relatively low frequency of launches, to spaceports that are capable of supporting multiple launches per day in a safe, cost-effective manner. The spaceport of the future may resemble, from an operational perspective, our current airports and seaports of today and will need to resolve many issues similar to these transportation hubs. These issues include (1) safe and secure spaceport operations, (2) efficient and large-scale movement of machinery and people through the spaceport, and (3) cost-efficient, affordable, productive, and timely spaceport operations.

Discrete event simulation is in use to analyze detailed processes at modern day seaports and airports. Like these more domestic ports, spaceport operations are also labor and facility / equipment intensive. The efficiency of any port operation is improved through proper use of all assets. SpaceSim addresses spaceport operations in the context of launch vehicle flight hardware elements (FHEs) and spaceport assets such as buildings, rail sites, landing sites, transport equipment and docks. The simulation uses Java programming language to provide for maximum portability and utilizes XML to ease any data interchange with others or with other tools.

The overall goal of SpaceSim analysis is to lend insight for many aspects of decision making early in any planning or development process. Later implementation and real-world operations will thus have maximized the throughput and productiveness of resources while minimizing overall costs.

SpaceSim offers:

  • The ability to play “what-if” scenarios on the computer with an emphasis on facilities prior to making large non-recurring capital investments

  • The ability to play "what-if" scenarios on the computer with an emphasis on recurring operational timelines prior to investing too far in any specific concept of operations

  • A Java based platform, requiring no further software to run

    • Graphs sizing and zoom features

  • Reusable hierarchies of space transportation flight hardware and ground support facilities as objects

  • Distributions for inputs, including beta, exponential, gamma, normal, pearson v, triangular, uniform, weibull (and of course, constant)

  • Setup parameters such as warm-up period, replications and run time, thus bringing out the effect of process variance on any final goal such as launches over time and facility utilization over time

  • Built in graphical as well as text output reports

Above: SpaceSim Setup Screen, Access to Inputs

Above: SpaceSim Input Screens by FHE or Partially Integrated FHE

Above: SpaceSim Output Graphs

The Project:

  • SpaceSim Phase III has completed. The planned goals were achieved including:
    • Enhanced "safe haven" features
    • Enhanced one-to-one flight hardware matching to spaceport facilities
    • Improved multi-step sub-integration capabilities (such as integrating a Crew Exploration Vehicle's elements in one place prior to stacking)
    • Test and verification of the capability with a real case, Orion Ares I, as a first step forming the foundation for jumping into analysis

The Team:

  • NASA Kennedy Space Center
    • Martin Steele Ph.D. NASA KSC Discrete Event Simulation Lead
    • Edgar Zapata, COTR, Testing & Analysis

Milestones:

  • NASA KSC awarded a Phase III SBIR to Nevins Software on 11/30/06 with a duration of 4 months to add features to existing software. These features added generic capability to the software while making it more applicable to the NASA Exploration program and the Constellation program architecture elements.
  • As of March 28, 2007, SpaceSim Ph. III has completed test / verification, with a representation of the Orion Ares I, including the CEV Operations & Checkout facility processes, a combination of rebuild, assembly, entry and integration stands.

Contacts, Further Information, Distribution

_____________________

Also see:

_____________________

Website Contact: Edgar Zapata, NASA Kennedy Space Center