Flexcompute, Northrop Grumman unveil ‘Physics AI’ to cut simulation timelines by 100x

Image: AI simulation. Image credit: Flexcompute. Article by Mrigakshi Dixit. Interesting Engineering – May 5, 2026.

In the Earth’s orbit, a few centimeters can be the difference between a successful docking and a mission-ending collision. Typically, preparing for these maneuvers took months of extensive data crunching. Now, it takes seconds. A new collaboration between Flexcompute, Northrop Grumman, and NVIDIA has unveiled a “Physics AI” infrastructure that automates the simulation of spacecraft plume impingement — the chaotic interaction between a thruster’s exhaust and nearby structures. […]

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