26-07-2005
PolyWorks to play a key role during Discovery’s “Return to Flight” STS-114 mission
PolyWorks on TV - News Coverage
PolyWorks on CTV Canada - July 26 2005
PolyWorks on SRC (Radio-Canada - French) - July 25 2005
PolyWorks on TVA (French) - July 25 2005
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Quebec, Canada - On July 26th, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre on a historic mission that marked the shuttle program's first launch in more than two years. During that period, NASA has worked intensively on integrating new technologies to increase the safety of the Discovery shuttle. One major new feature is the addition of a laser camera system (LCS) on the Canadarm. The LCS, developed by the Canadian company Neptec, will be deployed to inspect for tiny fractures on the leading edges of the wings and the nose cap which are covered in Reinforced Carbon-Carbon material.
The PolyWorks software suite, from the Canadian company InnovMetric Software, will be used as a key component for interpreting the millions of points collected by the LCS. Following a preliminary analysis performed in Neptec’s proprietary application, PolyWorks will recreate 3D models of the scanned areas. If areas of potential damage are identified, PolyWorks tools will be used to measure the size (depth, circumference, volume) of the cracks and holes. This valuable information will help specialists at the NASA Mission Center to assess the risk of these affected areas, and to determine a strategy for their repair.
The cooperation between NASA and InnovMetric Software dates back to early 1997, when PolyWorks was intensively used for the “Mars Pathfinder Mission”. At that time, NASA specialists used PolyWorks to prepare 3D models of the Martian surface for NASA’s website.
To learn more about the mission:
www.neptec.com
www.espace.gc.ca
www.nasa.gov
About InnovMetric Software
Founded in 1994, InnovMetric pioneered the market for point cloud inspection and polygonal manufacturing software solutions. InnovMetric is a privately-owned company which enjoys an enviable position as the marketleader in point cloud processing software in the automotive andaeronautic industries. Today, PolyWorks licenses are at work daily inmore than 30 countries, providing users such as BMW, Boeing, Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Lockheed-Martin, Peugeot,Porsche, Rolls Royce, Toyota, and Volkswagen with the most complete, accurate, and robust 3D point cloud processing software solution on the market.
InnovMetric’s flagship product, PolyWorks, is a powerful software solution that uses high-density point clouds to measure and control the quality of castings/dies/molds, and to approve manufacturing processes through prototype, first-article, manufactured, and assembled parts inspection. PolyWorks offers a complete toolset for comparing forms and profiles part-to-part and part-to-CAD, and includes the most complete GD&T analysis capabilities on the market, as well as the widest array of soft gauging tools linear, radius, flush & gap, thickness, etc.. All quality control tasks can be completely automated and performed by one click of a mouse using PolyWorks’ powerful scripting language. PolyWorks also offers a unique reverse-engineering module that produces highly accurate polygonal models and rapid NURBS surfaces that are exportable to any CAD/CAM/CFD/FEA software for stringent manufacturing applications.
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