Resumen
The article debates on the possibility of using virtual environments modeling and simulation to help reduce the potential for errors in designing and building a payload. Construction of individual payload components is typically subcontracted out, and the integration stage always involves compatibility and layout issues. Layout errors can result in schedule delays, equipment redesign, or makeshift engineering fixes. In spite of the care invested in the design specification, integration is always problematic. Conducting design-evaluation and assembly verification tasks in Virtual Environments (VE) enable designers to assess and validate alternative designs more readily and inexpensively than if they had to build mock-ups and more thoroughly than if they had only drawings to work with. However, using VEs in design is still limited in part because of users' difficulty interacting with the 3D virtual world, which is substantially more complex than any 2D interaction.