What do you think, what major CAD system was used by the NASA when they designed the new Ares I-X rocket? Or did they really used they own design system as the commercial products were not able to cope with this enormous task?
Well, this topic isn't that simple as the title suggests. I believe it will be beneficial for our readers to clarify a few basic points.
Firstly, the Ares I-X was not designed by NASA. In fact, this rocket came out from the workshop of several designers and manufacturers. The four-segment solid fuel based rocket engine and other bits and bobs were taken out from the Space Shuttle inventory. This engine was built by ATK Launch Service and apparently they use I-deas as their primary CAD-tool.
The Upper Stage simulator of the rocket were however researched, modelled and manufactured by NASA. At this exercise the computing power was focused on Finite Element Analysis and modelling rather purely on CAD drafting. At the manufacturing stage we just cannot know what sort of CAD was in place.
Having browsed through the NASA website for information leads we have come across with a very interesting section. NASA has developed a CAD system most probably for its sole use and this system is entitled to enhance NASA capabilities for enhanced electronics and sensor design.
But why NASA decided to develop its own CAD system rather use a commercial variant? Or perhaps these commercial variants cannot support NASA's high design requirements and thus they were forced to take a firm grasp on their CAD productivity? Or perhaps NASA was acting as a Client and the major CAD developers did the legwork as a Designer/Contractor. Shouldn't they get some of the fame then too?
Well, it is extremely difficult to answer these questions as there isn't any reliable resource on which we can rely on. Altogether we can sum that it is proven that NASA gets involved with high quality CAD-system design yet what is going to be the final outcome is not known. Perhaps when the Space Research budget shrinks to a level we can suddenly see a new competitor arising from the blue on the CAD market. Or maybe it will come from the outer spaces.
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