NASA Michoud Assembly Facility Digital Twin

The NASA Michoud Assembly Facility Digital Twin is a high-fidelity, real-time virtual replica of NASA’s roughly 2-million-square-foot Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, one of the world’s largest rocket manufacturing plants, where major hardware for NASA’s Artemis program (including the Space Launch System core stage and Orion spacecraft structures) is built.

  • The NASA Michoud Assembly Facility Digital Twin project is funded through a multimillion-dollar federal appropriation to LSU to develop a comprehensive digital twin of the facility’s main factory space.
  • The NASA Michoud Assembly Facility Digital Twin project aims to digitally mirror the physical facility, moving beyond traditional physical trial-and-error by enabling computational, simulation-based design, testing, and visualization to improve engineering workflows, reduce costs, and enhance quality control.
  • The Michoud Assembly Facility digital twin integrates LIDAR scanning and photogrammetry to capture detailed geometry of the factory space and assets, producing accurate 3D models of architecture, tooling, and equipment.
  • Real-time visualization engines (similar to those used in entertainment and game development) power the digital twin's interactive environment.
  • AI-enhanced metadata systems and sensor data streams can be connected to the digital twin, supporting real-time updates and analytics.
  • There are two integrated twins in development: one based on very high-accuracy LIDAR data (restricted internal use) and one built through hand-modeling for UI development and broader research use.
  • The project is led by LSU faculty and students from the Digital Media Arts & Engineering (DMAE) program, offering hands-on experience with cutting-edge digital twin technologies like Unreal Engine and mixed-reality platforms such as Microsoft HoloLens II.
  • The Michoud Assembly Facility digital twin will support remote design review, training, and collaboration for space industry professionals and serve as an immersive STEM and workforce development tool for educators and students at all levels.
  • The Michoud Assembly Facility digital twin project involves collaboration between LSU, the University of New Orleans, NASA’s National Center for Advanced Manufacturing (NCAM) located at Michoud, and industry partners such as Sev1Tech, integrating research, manufacturing expertise, and digital technology innovation.