About Us

What is CAELESTIS?

CAELESTIS is a new project funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme seeking to conduct groundbreaking technical research into virtual prototyping and digital twins, with huge potential impacts on the aviation industry. 

The project kicked off in May 2022 and has a duration of 42 months. It is due to end in October 2025.

The output from CAELESTIS could lead to a decrease in CO2 emissions stemming from aviation. Our innovations could reduce the costs and risks in developing new aircraft designs, and shorten the lead time on innovating tomorrow’s more efficient aircraft.

In short, CAELESTIS’ research could significantly speed up the reduction in the weight of aircraft, and in that way help reduce the consumption of fuel and the gas emissions in the aerospace industry by 2050.

What is CAELESTIS?

CAELESTIS is a new project funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme seeking to conduct groundbreaking technical research into virtual prototyping and digital twins, with huge potential impacts on the aviation industry. 

The project kicked off in May 2022 and has a duration of 42 months. It is due to end in 2024.

The output from CAELESTIS could lead to a decrease in CO2 emissions stemming from aviation. Our innovations could reduce the costs and risks in developing new aircraft designs, and shorten the lead time on innovating tomorrow’s more efficient aircraft.

In short, CAELESTIS’ research could significantly speed up the reduction in the weight of aircraft, and in that way help reduce the consumption of fuel and the gas emissions in the aerospace industry by 2050.

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An illustration shows specialists standing in front of a 3D printing machine manufacturing the form of a jet plane.

What are our objectives?

  • To develop a digital thread across the value chain linking the design, simulation, production engineering and manufacturing of next-generation airframe and engine structures

  • To develop model-based product and manufacturing digital twins, supporting virtual prototyping of next-generation aerostructures by linking and managing design and manufacturing uncertainties

  • To develop advanced HPC-data analytics that supports the design and manufacturing engineering

  • To develop smart manufacturing strategies to identify and reduce in real-time the impact of defects across the manufacturing chain

  • To foster the uptake of the CAELESTIS virtual prototyping ecosystem across the EU aeronautics industry to boost innovation for future aircraft with a Multi-Actor Approach
An illustration shows specialists standing in front of a 3D printing machine manufacturing the form of a jet plane.

What are our objectives?

  • To develop a digital thread across the value chain linking the design, simulation, production engineering and manufacturing of next-generation airframe and engine structures

  • To develop model-based product and manufacturing digital twins, supporting virtual prototyping of next-generation aerostructures by linking and managing design and manufacturing uncertainties

  • To develop advanced HPC-data analytics that supports the design and manufacturing engineering

  • To develop smart manufacturing strategies to identify and reduce in real-time the impact of defects across the manufacturing chain

  • To foster the uptake of the CAELESTIS virtual prototyping ecosystem across the EU aeronautics industry to boost innovation for future aircraft with a Multi-Actor Approach
An illustration of a man and woman turning on a propeller plane

Who is CAELESTIS?

Funded as part of the Horizon Europe programme by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), the team behind CAELESTIS comprises 11 partners with teams operating in 8 EU Member States. 

Our expertise spans a variety of technical sectors, from aeronautics and supercomputing, to additive manufacturing, cybersecurity, and communications. Find out more about who’s on the CAELESTIS team by visiting our PARTNERS section.

How will CAELESTIS work?

Over 42 months, the 11 partners behind CAELESTIS will work together to develop an end-to-end Interoperable Simulation Ecosystem (ISE) to perform multidirectional data flow across the aircraft value chain. This will link product design with distributed CAD-CAE tools to accelerate the optimization of disruptive aircraft and engine configurations and ensure their feasibility. 

 

This CAELESTIS ISE will be developed to integrate and autonomously execute simulation workflows supporting design and optimisation across aviation’s entire supply chain. The ecosystem will require High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructures able to massively execute predictions and deliver outputs at realistic time scales. Machine learning tools will improve the detection of manufacturing flaws, and quantify such uncertainties and their influence on the structural integrity of aircraft parts. 

 

Overall, the CAELESTIS ISE will contribute towards the:
  • Generation of optimized and reliable aircraft design configurations,
  • Widening of the aviation design space,
  • Optimization of the manufacturing process window; and
  • Improvement of both production efficiency and inline quality assurance.

 

In line with the Flightpath 2050 Europe’s Vision for Aviation (ACARE) as well as the intense efforts of the aerospace industry to develop more lightweight aircrafts, this system could contribute significantly to an acceleration and improvement in the process of prototyping new forms of aircraft, while ensuring continued the safety and reliability of flight. 

Build system linking design & engineering
Use HPC to execute predictions in development of digital twins
Accelerate design, manufacturing, and optimisation processes in aviation
Build the next generation of lighter & more efficient aircraft