For years, NASA engineers have turned to a tool called the Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) framework to solve airflow challenges that could mean the difference between mission success or failure. When engineers need to know how a spacecraft will navigate re-entry or whether a new aircraft wing design will create enough lift, they turn to LAVA.

NASA recently released this tool to the aerospace community. 

LAVA is a computational fluid dynamics software package NASA developed to advance critical aerospace missions, harnessing the agency’s collective expertise. It helps predict how air moves around rockets, aircraft, and spacecraft with stunning accuracy.

The same computational tools simulating Mars landers, predicting launch environments, and optimizing aircraft for efficiency is now available to U.S. researchers, companies, and innovators.

“This isn’t only about releasing software; it’s about accelerating innovation,” said Jared Duensing, LAVA team lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “When university researchers can run more complex simulations and when small companies can optimize designs with NASA-grade precision, we’re not only sharing tools, we’re unleashing potential.”

Big questions, fast answers

NASA has been using computational tools for years to predict how air will move around new aircraft or simulate the thunderous acoustic environment of a rocket launch.

Imagine watching your favorite show on a slow flip-phone versus loading it on a lightning-fast network in crystal-clear 4K high definition. That’s the kind of transformation LAVA brings to aerospace simulations. Complex problems that once took days or weeks now run in hours.

The LAVA software also is compatible with computer hardware employing specialized microprocessors known as graphics processing units (GPUs), which can run many tasks at the same time and reduce power consumption when compared to systems using traditional, more general-purpose central processing units. For traditionally costly simulation methods needed for NASA’s most complex aerospace applications, LAVA has yielded stand-out efficiency on NASA’s flagship GPU-based supercomputer, Cabeus.

But the real breakthrough is how LAVA makes the seemingly impossible routine. Aerospace engineers rely on “scale-resolving simulations” to capture high-fidelity renderings of phenomena that can have profound effects on missions, including pressure waves, turbulent swirls, and acoustic signatures. Those were once resource- and time-consuming. Now, LAVA runs them on modest computing resources, making them readily available and easy to produce, even for novice users.

At NASA, engineers have put those capabilities into action to help launch and land spacecraft on the Moon and Mars while driving innovation for the next-generation aircraft. When NASA needed to understand supersonic parachute deployment for Mars missions – something you can’t easily test in Earth’s atmosphere  – LAVA provided critical insights.

When engineers had to predict how ice formations would affect aircraft performance, LAVA delivered answers on conditions that are critical for flight safety.

To help astronauts launch safely on Artemis missions, LAVA simulated the launch of Artemis I, enabling engineers to understand the Space Launch System flight environment in detail. Releasing the software means that industry will be able to harness those same capabilities, potentially applying them toward everything from large supersonic airliners to smaller delivery drones and air taxis.

Three approaches, one framework

Most computational fluid dynamics software forces engineers to pick one approach, like being handed a hammer when you need an entire toolbox. The LAVA framework offers three options for generating meshes, or grids of connected dots used to predict the behavior of fluids (including air) in a simulation.

This allows users to switch between the meshes depending on a specific problem or use multiple mesh types to compare predictions. They also can use LAVA alongside other tools for analysis and optimization to improve designs.

Among many other NASA programs and projects, the work on LAVA was supported through NASA’s Transformational Tools and Technologies project, which works to develop new computational tools to help predict aircraft performance. The project is part of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program under its Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

Ready to dive deeper into LAVA? Visit the NASA software catalog for access information and learn more about the tool’s computational capabilities through this seminar about LAVA.