Was Ares I-X Designed by NASAs Own CAD System?
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
