BOSTON, MA, Oct 9, 2026 – Flexcompute is working with Starlab Space and Voyager Technologies to simulate airflow throughout Starlab’s cabin, supporting ventilation design for the commercial space station. The teams have completed an initial study of the full station interior.
In microgravity, warm air does not rise, and exhaled carbon dioxide can linger near crew members unless ventilation moves it. Starlab’s Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) must circulate fresh air throughout the station and maintain crew comfort.
Flexcompute modeled the interior using Flow360, its GPU-native computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, and GeometryAI, its automated geometry preparation engine. According to Flexcompute, the study matched Starlab’s existing models and took a fraction of the time required by CFD tools.
“Building a commercial space station takes partners who move at our pace,” said Jonathan O’Neill, atmosphere management system lead at Starlab Space. “Flexcompute’s engineers paved new ground in cabin ventilation CFD. That level of expert support gives us more confidence as Starlab moves from design into production.”
“Life support airflow can’t be fully tested on the ground, so simulation carries much of the design work,” said Vera Yang, co-founder and president of Flexcompute. “Working with Starlab’s ECLSS team shows what GPU-native physics makes possible for commercial space: faster answers, earlier in design, so engineers can move forward with confidence.”
Source: Flexcompute
About Starlab Space
Starlab Space is developing a commercial station for research and technology work in low Earth orbit. Founded in 2021, it is headquartered in Houston, TX. Voyager Technologies leads the joint venture with Airbus, Mitsubishi Corp., MDA Space, Palantir Technologies and Space Applications Services. The planned station includes internal and external laboratories for scientific and commercial payloads. Potential users include space agencies, universities, research institutions and companies. Research areas include biological studies, semiconductor technology, materials science and agriculture. Planned services cover payload integration, safety reviews, launch coordination, training and orbital operations.
About Flexcompute
Flexcompute is a technology company based in Madison, Wisconsin, founded in 2015 by engineers from MIT and Stanford. The company develops high-performance, cloud-native simulation software for industries including aerospace, automotive, semiconductors, consumer electronics, and renewable energy. Its key products – Flow360, Tidy3D, and PhotonForge – are designed for computational fluid dynamics (CFD), electromagnetics, and photonics simulations. These tools use GPU acceleration and AI-assisted physics modeling to enable faster simulation speeds compared to traditional methods, while maintaining accuracy. Flexcompute’s solutions aim to support hardware design and engineering workflows by reducing simulation time and improving scalability.
