Structural Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model of an orbiter conceptStructural Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model of an orbiter concept

As part of my day job at a US government space agency, I developed a tool to quickly generate structural finite element models of aerospace vehicles including rockets, aircraft, and landers. While not its primary purpose, the program can also be used to create models for 3-D printing. It is called Loft and was recently approved for public release. It can be downloaded for free at https://software.nasa.gov/software/LAR-18704-1. If you want to take a look at the manual before downloading the software you can see that for free at https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20230001772. And if you happen to be attending the AIAA SciTech conference in January 2024, you can come hear my talk about the code and three broad use cases for it there on the afternoon of January 11. I’ll add a link to the conference paper here after the conference.

Here are some 3-D prints that I created using Loft:

Aircraft, rockets, and component 3-D models created in Loft
Teaching aids for a Calculus class created in Loft

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