Case Study: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center achieves safe, efficient, cost-effective ground operations simulation with Dassault Systèmes DELMIA

NASA - Customer Case Study

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center needed to validate complex, one‑of‑a‑kind ground operations before they occur to ensure feasibility, safety, efficiency and cost control. To meet this challenge, NASA’s Design Visualization Group used Dassault Systemes’ DELMIA 3D virtualization to simulate assembly, transport and contingency procedures across programs such as the Space Shuttle, ISS and Launch Services.

Dassault Systemes implemented DELMIA models for roughly 20 KSC facilities and thousands of ground‑support equipment items, importing CAD via STEP and updating legacy assets with laser scanning. The simulations improved communications, revealed accessibility issues (prompting design changes such as an enlarged hatch for Orion), enabled contingency planning (e.g., hoister operator failure scenarios), produced stakeholder videos, and helped reuse older assets—delivering greater safety, efficiency and cost‑avoidance for NASA.

NASA