Thrusters All Go

By Nestor Vences Gonzalez

When Jonathan Chang, a mechanical assembly and integration manager, puts on the Highly Immersive Virtual Environment’s (HIVE) full body suit, he is stepping into a dream come true. 

The HIVE is a mixed reality world where physical surroundings blend with a spacecraft’s digital model — enabling Jonathan to see a satellite as it’s still being designed and give valuable feedback before the first part is even shipped. 

“You get so much more context with the 3D environment. It’s a big plus. In the past, we’ve done full mockups to do different evaluations; with the HIVE we’re saving costs, avoiding over-building, and completing pre-assessments,” he said.   

Jonathan leads the team responsible for mechanical assembly, integration and test on the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar (NGP) program. Using advanced infrared sensors, NGP will detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles over the Northern Hemisphere.

Northrop Grumman has supported missile warning and defense for decades, most recently providing the payload for the legacy Space-Based Infrared Systems, the program NGP will succeed. 

In his two decades of experience, Jonathan thought he had seen it all. 

Construction Revolution

Enter the HIVE — a system that combines a full body suit and motion capture nodules to let users interact directly with spacecraft models in mixed reality. On NGP, HIVE supports the design process, enabling test engineers to simulate how technicians will integrate and assemble the satellites’ key components.

“Our test engineers write procedures to build and test the space vehicles, then our technicians take those instructions and turn them into reality,” said Jonathan. “The HIVE allows us to look at trends, people’s body mechanics and behaviors.”

Now that NGP has moved onto its manufacturing phase, HIVE’s role has been amplified. Prior to the implementation of the HIVE, any design issues that were identified after building the prototype that required a redesign, required the process to start again. With HIVE, engineers can test and develop spacecraft, using HIVE’s combination of the physical world and a digital model, to identify design issues before physical prototyping.

“It allows us to change the way we design if we need to, see things that aren’t apparent in the 3D model on our computer screens,” Jonathan said.