Welcome to the Flight Simulation Facilities at NASA Langley Research Center. The Facilities are operated by the Simulation Development and Analysis Branch (SDAB), of the Research Services Directorate (RSD).
The primary mission of Flight Simulation Facilities is to design and implement human-in-the-loop, hard real-time flight simulations. The facilties are also used to support non real-time simulation studies (batch analysis, monte-carlo analysis, linear-models, etc…). The supporting staff is composed of a diverse mix of resources, capable of performing a wide variety of engineering and analysis tasks.
The Flight Simulation Facilities consist of the Cockpit Motion Facility, the Research Flight Deck, the Integration Flight Deck, the Generic Flight Deck, the Development and Test Simulator, the Test and Evaluation Simulator (also known as the Lunar flight Deck), the Uninhabited Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration and Validation Laboratory (SIVL), and the System Integration Laboratories(SIL). The LaRC Flight Simulation Facilities have achieved internationally recognized Capability Maturity Model Integration Capability Level 3 ratings, which indicate enhanced overall systems and software engineering excellence.
Facility Benefits
- World-class, unique, high-performance, state-of-the-art pilot-in-the-loop flight simulators with one-of-a-kind oculometer technology for all classes of aircraft and spacecraft.
- High quality, high reliability, low operating costs, and low maintenance simulators
- Can be tied to simulation facilities at other NASA Centers, DOD facilities, FAA facilities, commercial facilities, and university facilities to conduct large-scale multi-vehicle simulations.
- Conduct research for advanced flight deck design and vehicle operations for crew and cargo space missions, advanced air vehicles, uninhabited aircraft systems, and Next Generation Air Transportation System
Facility Applications
- Aeronautical Research Simulators
- Commercial transport
- General aviation
- Fighter
- Futuristic designs
- Unmanned Aircraft Systems/Vehicles
- Space Flight Research Simulators
- Crew exploration and launch vehicle
- Lunar and Planetary lander
- Lifting bodies
- Lunar and Mars environments
- Classified Research