{"id":2190,"date":"2026-03-20T14:48:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/?p=2190"},"modified":"2026-03-20T14:48:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:48:44","slug":"artemis-sls-launch-sim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/?p=2190","title":{"rendered":"NASA Simulations Improve Artemis II Launch Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Airflow around rockets as they travel from Earth into space can have a dramatic impact on a mission, which\u00a0is\u00a0why NASA used advanced simulations to provide\u00a0the best possible launch conditions\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0Artemis II\u00a0test flight around the Moon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To better understand the\u00a0Artemis\u00a0Space Launch System (SLS) rocket\u2019s flight environment, engineers turned\u00a0to a NASA-developed tool called the Launch, Ascent, and\u00a0Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) framework. The software addresses computational fluid dynamics, the flow behavior of gases and liquids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Using data from the 2022 Artemis I launch, researchers at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley used LAVA to simulate complex interactions between the rocket plume and a system that pumps water to suppress sound during launch. The system protects the rocket and other equipment from potentially damaging sound waves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Comparing simulations with and without the sound suppression system activated revealed that the water effectively reduces pressure waves from sound, but exhaust gases from the rocket could also redirect water, causing significant pressure increases in certain areas of the launchpad. \u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

The LAVA simulations improved NASA\u2019s understanding of the plume interaction with the Artemis\u00a0mobile launcher<\/a>\u00a0platform. Using this knowledge, aerospace engineers at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida refined the design plume pressures and adapted the launch platform to endure those pressures\u00a0for\u00a0Artemis II<\/a>, NASA\u2019s first mission with crew aboard the SLS and Orion spacecraft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NASA will release LAVA in the coming weeks to the aerospace community and\u00a0accelerate innovation by enabling U.S. companies and researchers to run complex simulations and\u00a0optimize\u00a0designs for\u00a0aircraft\u00a0and rockets. NASA has\u00a0hosted\u00a0a seminar on using LAVA<\/a>\u00a0with more about the tool\u2019s capabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The work on\u202fLAVA\u202fis supported through NASA\u2019s Transformational Tools and Technologies<\/a> project, which develops new computational capabilities to help predict\u202faerospace vehicle performance. The project is part of NASA\u2019s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program<\/a> under the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s decades of aeronautics research\u00a0expertise\u00a0strengthens\u00a0its space missions, using tools like wind tunnel testing, advanced software development, and other innovations to enhance safety and reliability.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Airflow around rockets as they travel from Earth into space can have a dramatic impact on a mission, which\u00a0is\u00a0why NASA used advanced simulations to provide\u00a0the best possible launch conditions\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0Artemis II\u00a0test flight around the Moon.\u00a0 To better understand the\u00a0Artemis\u00a0Space Launch System (SLS) rocket\u2019s flight environment, engineers turned\u00a0to a NASA-developed tool called the Launch, Ascent, and\u00a0Vehicle Aerodynamics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[515,516,784,312,318,785,5,321,786,787],"tags":[511,512,780,301,307,781,310,782,783],"class_list":["post-2190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aeronautics","category-aeronautics-research-mission-directorate","category-ames-research-center","category-artemis-2","category-exploration-systems-development-mission-directorate","category-flight-innovation","category-science","category-space-launch-system-sls","category-transformational-tools-technologies","category-transformative-aeronautics-concepts-program","tag-aeronautics","tag-aeronautics-research-mission-directorate","tag-ames-research-center","tag-artemis-2","tag-exploration-systems-development-mission-directorate","tag-flight-innovation","tag-space-launch-system-sls","tag-transformational-tools-technologies","tag-transformative-aeronautics-concepts-program"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}