Mobile space camp equipped with technology from Ansys
CANONSBURG – Students across the United States will soon be able to experience the adventure of space travel thanks to a new partnership between Space Training Adventure and Research and Southpointe-based Ansys Inc.
The partnership will enable STAR to inspire young minds about earth and space science by leveraging Ansys simulation software.
According to a news release from Ansys, STAR will soon launch the Enterprise Spaceport, a state-of-art mobile space camp that will tour the country and visit communities to excite and engage students from the elementary to college level in interactive science, technology, engineering and math – STEM – activities involving space and earth sciences.
Enterprise Spaceport is a novel approach to STEM educational technology to work with parents and teachers to inspire minds from cradle to career.
The mobile unit offers an interactive knowledge-based system that provides the latest in technology and will employ an array of engineering-based project tools and displays along with astronaut flight crew training simulators.
STAR will leverage Ansys’ 3-D visualization software in its 3-D printing and additive manufacturing education labs.
Students will also use Ansys simulation software to understand how physics-based simulation plays a role in the development of products related to space travel, such as simulating flow over aerodynamic bodies during launch and the thermal stress of re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere.
“From Day 1, our goal has been to empower young minds and spark an eagerness and fascination about STEM and the world around them,” said Shahinaz Millar, president and CEO of STAR. “It is very exciting to partner with a leading company like Ansys that values STEM education as we do.”
The Enterprise Spaceport will feature space flight simulators from the Mars and Lunar Mission, a STEM Learning Center, land, sea and air robotics classroom, as well as a mock International Space Station with a full-size operational Orion capsule.
“There is a growing need to develop a stronger workforce of experts in STEM-related disciplines within the United States,” said Paul Lethbridge, lead academic program manager at Ansys.
Headquartered in Southpointe, Ansys, a global leader in engineering simulation software, has more than 75 strategic sales and development locations throughout the world with a network of channel partners in more than 40 countries.