Lockheed Martin hopes to increase the affordability and efficiency of space system development with the opening of a new advanced technology and virtual simulation facility, known as the Collaborative Human Immersive Laboratory at its Space Systems headquarters in Littleton, Colorado.
CHIL integrates several virtual reality technologies enabling engineers and technicians to save time and cost by validating, testing, and understanding products and processes virtually before creating them physically.
CHIL will contribute to Lockheed's work on the US Air Force next-generation global positioning system, known as GPS III, and NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle.
Lockheed's goals with virtual reality are to identify where hardware designs and manufacturing processes can be fine-tuned before production or development begins. This allows engineers to identify risks and increase efficiencies early in programme development, when the cost, risk and time associated with making modifications are low.
Space Systems special projects director Jeff Smith says: "While similar technology is being used in the movie industry to create fictitious worlds, the CHIL is real, and it is driving affordability into our products."
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics already has a similar virtual reality facility geared to reducing the life-cycle cost of aircraft, the Human Immersive Laboratory, formerly known as the Ship/Air Integration Lab, in Fort Worth, Texas.
Source: Flight International