Lockheed Martin Builds Closer Ties with NASA Using Dassault Systèmes’ DELMIA to Refine Orion Physical Mockup

08/21/2007

Digital and Physical Mockups Speed Development

Auburn Hills, MI., USA – August 21, 2007 – Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced that its DELMIA software is helping Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. (LMSSC) work more closely with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  The focus of their efforts is on mockups for the crew exploration vehicle to be used in the Orion orbital and moon-landing missions.

Orion, America’s next-generation space exploration project, is part of the Constellation program to explore the solar system.  The Lockheed Martin Corp. unit and NASA are partnering in human-factors simulations to develop Orion’s command module. Lockheed Martin’s Orion contracts are valued at about $4 billion. LMSSC project managers say that simulations for “what-if” scenarios and tradeoff studies help build working relationships and credibility that are critical for any sort of successful government and industry collaboration.  The simulation software is DELMIA DPM (Digital Process for Manufacturing) and V5 Human for ergonomic analyses.

Working directly with astronauts, NASA and LMSSC, using DELMIA’s solutions, are building a virtual, or digital, mockup of the crew exploration vehicle in Littleton, Colorado and a physical mockup at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. The digital mockup is speeding development of the high-fidelity physical mockup at JSC.  The Littleton mockup is also cutting development costs by doing modifications digitally rather than through carpentry. The virtual mockup is to provide a technical basis for crew arrangement, crew spacing and seat design, and is to ensure crewmembers can see and reach controls.  Simulations use up to 11 manikins and include analyses for exercise space, access to crew stowage, and getting in and out of Orion.

Lockheed Martin sees the digital and physical Orion mockups as a key interconnection with NASA.  The simulation data is used at JSC to refine the physical Orion mockup, which is built full-scale. The JSC mockup also helps the crew trainees and NASA evaluate the design of the control systems.  These simulations will help avoid the wasted time and excess cost of repeated rebuilds and modifications of the physical mockup.

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About Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., a business area of Lockheed Martin, is a leader in the design, research and development, systems integration, production and support of advanced military aircraft and related technologies. Its customers include the Department of Defense and allied countries throughout the world. Additional information about Lockheed Martin is available at www.lockheedmartin.com.

About About DELMIA

DELMIA is a premier brand for digital manufacturing solutions, focused on two unique software applications that can be used to streamline manufacturing processes. DELMIA Automation provides solutions to digitally design test and validate the control of a machine, workcell, or entire factory line and DELMIA PLM provides the process and resource capability to enable continuous creation and validation of manufacturing processes as related to the product throughout the entire product lifecyle.  DELMIA serves industries where the optimization of manufacturing processes is critical, including automotive, aerospace, fabrication and assembly, electrical and electronics, consumer goods, plant, and shipbuilding sectors. Information about DELMIA is available at http://www.delmia.com/

About Dassault Systèmes

Leader mondial des solutions 3D et de gestion du cycle de vie des produits (Product Lifecycle Management ou PLM), Dassault Systèmes apporte de la valeur ajoutée à 100 000 clients, répartis dans 80 pays. Pionnier du marché du logiciel en 3D depuis 1981, Dassault Systèmes développe et commercialise des logiciels d'application PLM et des services qui anticipent les processus industriels de demain et offrent une vision 3D de l'ensemble du cycle de vie d'un produit, de sa conception à sa maintenance. L’offre de Dassault Systèmes se compose de CATIA pour la conception virtuelle de produits, SolidWorks pour la conception mécanique en 3D, DELMIA pour la production virtuelle, SIMULIA pour la simulation et les tests virtuels, ENOVIA pour la gestion collaborative et globale du cycle de vie et 3DVIA pour des expériences 3D vécues en-ligne comme dans la vie réelle. Dassault Systèmes est coté sur les marchés Nasdaq (DASTY) et Euronext Paris (n°13065, DSY.PA). Pour plus d’informations: http://www.3ds.com/fr/

CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SIMULIA, SolidWorks et 3D VIA sont des marques déposées de Dassault Systèmes ou de ses filiales aux USA et / ou dans d'autres pays.