Ah, the Digital Twin. NASA is pursuing this technology for aircraft. It's
also a big deal in aviation, read recent Aviation Weeks.
I'm a big advocate of advanced technology, but I'm also an avid reader of
aerospace history, which can help give one a "jaundiced eye" view on
implementing new technology.
I remember in military aircraft flight test where we were going to run many of
the flight test points on simulations, and then only do a few flight test
points in the real world. I seem to see real F-22's and real F-35's out on the
ramp at Edwards for years (even a decade plus).
Full aircraft mock-ups (wood model of an entire aircraft including the
interior) disappeared decades ago, but wiring mock-ups (a frame with the wire
bundles on it) lasted a long time. Just couldn't get the actual bends and wire
lengths exactly right. We still use wiring mock-ups for builds for one of a
kind flight test instrumentation. I believe the Boeing 777 was the first truly
all-digital design, which when you think about it was not really that long ago.
Wiring mock-ups lasted a long time.
Embrace new technology, but with caution, and lessons learned from the past.
Charles E. (Chuck) Rogers
-----Original Message-----
From: James Fackert <jimfackert@xxxxxxxxx>
To: arocket list <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, Nov 15, 2021 9:27 am
Subject: [AR] fly it before you build it
an interesting webcast and a paper on the state of 21st century spacecraft
design/build.
https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/global/en/webinar/space-system-engineering-performance/77835https://resources.sw.siemens.com/en-US/white-paper-spacecraft-design-digital-twin
this implies that if you have to build a boilerplate dummy to test your ground
handling equipment, you are absolutely sunk.or, as was said, its a moral
builder, not a capability builder. but NOT...