As NASA prepares for some of the biggest missions ever to Mars and beyond, leading-edge digital twin technology is in the offing. With the help of Perforce Helix Core and Unreal Engine, NASA will be able to build highly detailed virtual replicas of critical facilities and systems.
“We’ve got the digital twin that is this digital intermediary that both parties can look at,” explained Greg Porter of Sev1Tech in a recent webinar. “One operator could be wearing a HoloLens too and communicating inside the facility, and the person in Alabama can be on their PC, see where that person’s located, get a video feed and get a really deep understanding of what problem they’re trying to overcome.”
This digital thread allows seamless collaboration between NASA engineers across multiple sites.
As Ryan Maffesoli of Perforce noted during the same webinar: “We don’t want to actually move the data, we want to leave it in those source systems.”
This innovative approach integrates all relevant data securely via APIs.
Digital twins also provide meticulous visualization and simulation capabilities vital for mission success.
“We started exploring the idea of a digital thread, a new way to think about data integration,” said Porter. Even complex floor levelness variations that could impact rocket transport are digitally mapped, as shown in visuals from the webinar.
Moreover, Unreal Engine enables photorealistic 3D visualization.
“We’re using Unreal Engine to create real-time 3D environments,” stated Marc Aubanel of LSU during the webinar. “And establishing a secure, scalable single source of truth for iterating on these environments with Helix Core.”
As this powerful technology evolves, NASA is pioneering new frontiers — digitally recreating entire launch facilities down to the millimeter. This unprecedented capability reduces risk, optimizes processes, and drives successful missions to explore the boundaries of our universe.
