OX Origin is on a mission to advance space systems.
Siemens has sponsored this post.
OX Origin has one mission: to better enable humankind to reach the stars. While that is no small feat, founders Alex Bugnar and Ilie Ciobanu aim to revolutionize the aerospace industry by sharing their knowledge of space systems and software engineering through platforms like StarLeap.
“The tools being used in the space industry are falling behind when it comes to [design and engineering] technology,” says co-founder Ilie Ciobanu. “Not in the technology they produce, but the technology that’s being used, especially the software tools that tend to be older than the latest state-of-the-art software.”
Ciobanu adds that it’s not so much about the CAD software, but more about the lack of software being used to manage a project. He thinks this is mainly because people are reluctant to change. “They aren’t taking advantage of the latest technology and that’s what OX Origin has set out to change.”
Both engineers, co-founders Ciobanu and Bugnar aim to revolutionize the industry by sharing their knowledge and passion of space systems engineering and software engineering through their services offered at OX Origin.
The two met during their early professional life in Oxford, United Kingdom, hence the name OX Origin. Bugnar has a master’s degree (MSc) in Ultra Precision Technologies and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Telecommunications Engineering and specializes on the software engineering at OX Origin. Ciobanu has a BSc in Astronautics Engineering and an MSc in Space Technology and works on the design and consulting side of their business.
They started the company in 2020 because not only do they work well together on problem solving, but they also saw an opportunity to help and educate other space industry professionals.
That’s just part of their mission to “better enable humankind to reach the stars.” While that is an ambitious goal, one of the solutions they are currently developing to meet their goals is StarLeap, an enterprise web-based platform for managing the end-to-end design process of complex systems. They also offer MARS, a solution that helps mechanical engineers with the standard task of verifying bolted joints and ensuring associated margins of safety through bolt static analysis.
Aside from their in-house solutions, they use Siemens software solutions on their projects, including NX for design, Simcenter for simulation, Nastran for computations and Teamcenter Share for collaboration with their clients.
What do they think about Siemens solutions? As the primary software user, Ciobanu chimed in.
He says compared to other solutions on the market, “I feel Siemens’ is the most connected.”
“NX has a lot of capabilities, more than what we need really. But I think the good thing about it is that it’s very compatible with Simcenter. So, whenever we create a part in NX, we can go from NX directly to Simcenter and build a finite element model. There are a lot of possibilities for analyzing and simulating.”
For example, with NX and Simcenter, they can explore a lot of configurations on the designs and assess mechanical, thermal and static performance to pick the best design and meet their client’s requirements.
“With Simcenter and NX, it’s relatively easy because they are connected in a much better way than other tools, and they are very well recognized in the space industry,” says Ciobanu.
With Teamcenter Share they can also easily collaborate with clients as they can share files, models and simulation results. And since Teamcenter Share is cloud-based, they can simply share data with clients all over the world and do it securely by assigning read or write permissions. The clients can then continue processing, modeling or simulating the data and comment on desired adjustments or changes.
Beyond collaboration, with Teamcenter Share they can store and manage data. “It makes life easier and helps us manage the tasks and activities of the clients we work with,” says Ciobanu.
What does the immediate future look like for OX Origin? Right now, they are focusing on helping startups like themselves advance in the space industry by equipping them with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed, and to encourage others to take advantage of resources that allow startups to access low or no cost software, the Solid Edge for Startups programs offered by Siemens.
Learn more at Siemens.
