AUTOMATION OF STOWAGE - PHASE I

THE INNOVATION PROPOSED HEREIN WILL DETERMINE OPTIMAL PACKING SOLUTIONS FOR LOCATION AND ORIENTATION OF ITEMS TO BE STOWED IN THE SPACE STATION. THE TECHNIQUE WILL USE THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER GRAPHICS COUPLED WITH ENGINEERINGDESIGN OPTIMIZATION METHODOLOGIES TO EFFICIENTLY DETERMINE PREFERRED STOWAGE SOLUTIONS. CONSTRAINTS SUCH AS MINIMUM DISTANCE BETWEEN OBJECTS, MASS PROPERTIES, FIXED OBJECT ORIENTATION, OBJECT LAYERING, AND STOWAGE CONTAINER DESIGNATION WILL BE ADDRESSED. THE FEASIBILITY OF INTERFACING THE OPTIMAL PACKING CAPABILITY WITH 1) THE NASA/AIR FORCE LASER MAPPING SYSTEM TO PROVIDE AN EFFICIENT METHOD OF MODELING EXTREMELY COMPLEX OBJECTS TO BE STOWED AND 2) NUMERICALLY CONTROLLED MACHINING EQUIPMENT TO ALLOW AUTOMATIC MACHINING OF PACKING MATERIAL. THIS EVOLUTIONARY INNOVATION WILL IMPROVE AND LINK TOGETHER EXISTING CAPABILITIES TO PROVIDE NASA WITH AN IMAGINATIVE, LOW RISK AUTOMATED SOLUTION TO THE DIFFICULT SPACE STATION STOWAGE PROBLEM.