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Spinoff story
Program Predicts Aerothermodynamics of Reentry, Subsonic Flight
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
An engineer at Ames Research Center created software called Configuration-Based Aerodynamics (CBAERO), capable of importing spacecraft models created with computer-aided design and predicting the aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic forces they would experience during reentry. The program generates results with nearly the accuracy of traditional computational fluid dynamics in far less time. Through software usage agreements, more than 20 businesses, including Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital ATK, and several Department of Defense agencies and universities use CBAERO.