Concept of Operations Visualization for Ares I Production
- Paper number
IAC-08.D2.9.-D1.6.5
- Author
Mr. David Alan Smith, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. James Chilton, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, United States
- Year
2008
- Abstract
The National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA) Ares I launch vehicle program will develop and produce the first new human launch system for the United States in the last 40 years as part of its larger Moon/Mars Constellation program. It is designed to safely transport up to 6 crew for rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) or transport up to 4 crew for rendezvous with the Altair lander to support lunar missions. The Boeing Company was selected in 2007 to manufacture both the Ares I Upper Stage (US) and Instrument Unit (IU) to NASA’s design. While similar to the Apollo Saturn 2nd and 3rd stages in function, the design of this liquid Oxygen/Hydrogen Upper Stage requires the use of the latest manufacturing and integration processes in order to meet NASA budget and schedule targets. Boeing is working with the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to develop a cost effective and lean Ares I US/IU production process at MSFC’s Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) outside of New Orleans, Louisiana. Key to Boeing’s support to MSFC has been the use of advanced manufacturing tools to understand the existing “Shuttle era” MAF infrastructure, establish a trade space of potential modifications to support Ares I production, and then use those same tools to determine an optimal manufacturing configuration in terms of labor efficiency, safety and facility enhancements. This analysis also includes ensuring that production changes for Ares I will “do no harm” to future manufacturing projects at MAF. This paper will explore the approach taken by NASA and Boeing to use tools such as the Dassault Systemes DELMIA (Digital Enterprise Lean Manufacturing Interactive Application) simulations to help bring Ares I production processes into the 21st century. Establishing Computer Aided Design (CAD) models of the facility, vehicle and production tooling and integrating them into manufacturing visualizations/simulations using DELMIA allows Boeing and NASA to collaborate real time early in the design/development cycle. This collaboration allows cost effective and lean solutions that can be easily shared with Ares stakeholders (e.g., other NASA Centers). These Ares I production visualizations will by their nature serve as early improvement precursors for other Constellation elements to be built at MAF such as Ares V and the Altair lander.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.D2.9.-D1.6.5.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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