DEFENSE

French Space Program Gains Additional Flexibility and Collaboration Using Enterprise Simulation Tools: MSC.Software today announced that the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the governmental agency responsible for shaping and implementing France's space policy in Europe, has selected a broad portfolio of MSC.Software solutions to help the agency in their mission to invent the space systems of the future. For their innovative and influential work, engineers at CNES will use a variety of MSC.Software's product offerings, including the leading solver applications and the CAD embedded solution SimDesigner. These solutions, in use in technical and operational facilities at the Toulouse Space Centre and the Evry Space Centre respectively, provide CNES with the breadth of simulation technology needed to realize the initiatives that maintain France and Europe's competitive edge in the Space industry. "After a full competitive review, we have chosen to partner with MSC.Software in order to best address our wide range of enterprise simulation requirements. MSC.Software's solutions for linear, nonlinear, crash and kinematics deliver the best-of-breed functionality which is necessary for the Space industry today," said Jean-Noel Bricout, head of structures and mechanical engineering office at the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. "SimDesigner further expands our simulation options, giving us direct access to CATIA geometries, and providing an upfront design-simulation capability to our engineering team at the Evry Space Centre." SimDesigner is a CAD-embedded simulation suite that features enterprise collaboration and centralized data management. Providing an intuitive environment for design engineers to perform repeatable, documented simulation studies earlier in the design process, SimDesigner delivers the ability to create and collaborate on designs and performance simulations in one powerful application. The suite provides a number of designer-friendly simulation tools, including workbenches for linear and nonlinear structures, thermal, and crash and enterprise gateways for MSC.Software's multi-disciplinary solver MD Nastran. "We are honored that CNES has chosen our virtual product development solutions to address their enterprise simulation needs," said Bill Weyand, chief executive officer, MSC.Software. "As the Space community seeks to increase collaboration, with design teams spread throughout the world, our solutions will deliver the enterprise reach and knowledge management required to speed innovation."