Apollo 13 Heroes to Headline SolidWorks World
Largest Annual Summit of Engineers and Designers to Take Place January 23-26, 2011 in San Antonio
CONCORD, Mass., USA, Dec. 13, 2010 – Two men who helped save the Apollo 13 crew 40 years ago by finding ingenious solutions to catastrophic mechanical problems will headline SolidWorks World 2011, the world’s largest gathering of the engineering and design community. Their heroics provide an inspirational example of engineering under pressure.
In April 1970, more than 200,000 miles from earth, Apollo 13 sustained a sudden failure of its cryogenic oxygen system. Commander Capt. James Lovell Jr. and his crew successfully modified the craft’s lunar module into an effective “lifeboat” to provide power and water for an emergency return to earth. Gene Kranz, lead flight director, headed the ground-based “Tiger Team” that helped coordinate the successful detour.
Their actions earned Lovell and Kranz Presidential Medals of Freedom. The pair will tell their stories at SolidWorks World, which takes place Jan. 23-26, 2011, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. This year’s event is the 13th annual gathering of customers, partners, resellers, and employees of Dassault Systèmes (DS) SolidWorks Corp., maker of software for design, simulation, data management, technical communications, and sustainability assessment.
“I faced the ultimate challenge when imparting the words ‘Houston, we have a problem,’” says Lovell. “But we all face challenges – some life-threatening and inescapable, others more routine. I look forward to sharing my story and learning about the unique challenges faced by DS SolidWorks’ customers.”
“Throughout my career I have seen the role teamwork plays in assuring ultimate victory in any circumstances. DS SolidWorks as a team provides engineers and designers with the tools they need to build products for which, as in aeronautics, ‘failure is not an option,’” says Kranz. “I am interested to see firsthand how SolidWorks enables its customers to solve problems in a variety of industries.”
Aerospace continues to be a key industry for DS SolidWorks, a two-time Product of the Year award winner from NASA Tech Briefs. Organizations such as Alliance Spacesystems, Inc. (ASI), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Arizona State University, George Tylinski, Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL), and Pacific Design Technologies, Inc. rely on SolidWorks® software to help design, test, and manufacture internal systems, robotics, and structures used in space exploration applications, as well as those for earth observation, asteroid detection and interplanetary space systems. ASI, for example, used SolidWorks to help develop highly precise, complex mechanisms, and collaborate with scientists and NASA mission planners for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission.
More information about DS SolidWorks involvement in the aerospace industry is available on the website.
Registration for SolidWorks World 2011 is currently open with an early-bird offer until January 7. Members of the media can register for this event by providing their full contact information to pr@solidworks.com.
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