Rather than applying a syntax-based translator for integrating the many design and analysis tools used the NASA in the Spaceport project, KBSI applied an ontology-based semantic translator that can intelligently map product concepts parameters to process parameters using knowledge representation techniques. This approach allows for the integration, in an overarching framework, of simulation and costing analysis tools with design tools and provides extensibility and plug compatibility, to enable the integration of other third party analysis modules into the proposed framework.

The result of the project, a Virtual Spaceport Prototyping Environment (VSPE) application, assists NASA systems engineers in collaboratively conceptualizing, designing, virtual-prototyping, and testing complex systems and "systems of systems" such as NASA's Spaceport Transportation System. The VSPE technology addresses some of the more fundamental technical challenges of NASA's Spaceport initiatives: the lack of enabling technologies for distributed, collaborative, simulation modeling for engineering design and synthesis. With this capability, NASA will be able to design and operate the next generation Spaceport transportation system at substantially reduced costs and time.