When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works .
(Image credit: NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center / YouTube ) Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google CapFrameX, a popular benchmarking tool, has recently been considered by NASA Langley as a tool to check the performance of its cockpit simulator video systems. According to an X post by the company, the U.S. space agency has begun the government software approval process needed to get the app installed on their cockpit simulators, and that it was the agency, not CapFrameX, that initiated the process.
NASA Langley has expressed interest in using #CapFrameX to assess FPS performance for cockpit simulator video systems and has started the U.S. government software approval process. pic.twitter.com/krOvALYUfv January 22, 2026
Although most people relate NASA to space travel, the agency also works on developing aerospace technologies, like the X-59 — an experimental supersonic aircraft that does not produce the usual sonic boom, but instead replaces it with a much quieter thump. But before the actual experimental jet takes flight, the test pilots must first take it for a spin on a simulator, helping them get used to handling the plane, memorize procedures, and learn how to manage emergencies without putting anyone or anything at risk.
Ambitious enthusiasts buy entire Boeing 747 cockpit in race to build flight simulator
Programmer installed and ran Doom on an orbiting European Space Agency satellite
Cinebench 2026 out and ready to hammer CPUs and graphics cards six times as hard
On the other hand, NASA builds its own custom flight simulators based on the jets it’s testing. These are hand-built from scratch, and the team behind it brings every component of the system, like switches, dials, knobs, “as close to the real thing” as possible, and “are located physically as close as we can get it, from the throttle, the landing gear, everything.” This is designed to help the test pilots build muscle memory, allowing them to accomplish procedures much quicker without needing to take their eyes off the front screen or the gauges.
Watch On The U.S. space agency has been building simulators since the early 1960s, long before the advent of powerful computers. They had ground-based simulators designed to mimic how various vehicles would react in the air and in space safely, and even built flying simulators based on existing aircraft to train pilots how to land the Space Shuttle. The advent of capable hardware and software is making it easier and much more affordable for NASA to build custom simulators based on their needs, and benchmarking software will help ensure that the pilots being trained on them will get the best, most realistic experience out of them.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News , or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/nasa-taps-popular-pc-hardware-performance-tool-for-cockpit-simulations-government-software-approval-process-for-capframex-started-by-the-space-agency#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
- V-Color Manta XFinity RGB DDR5-6400 C32 2x64GB Review: Two-Module Powerhouse
- Customer buys ROG Astral RTX 5080, cancels order but receives GPU and $1,850 refund anyway — Amazon tells him to keep GPU and the $1,850 refund
- Grab an MSI 4K 144 Hz monitor for less than $200 — Newegg discount is an affordable entry into high-end gaming
- SSDs now cost 16x more than HDDs due to AI supply chain crisis — hybrid SSD + HDD datacenter deployments are now significantly cheaper to deploy than SSD-only e
- How to Get Started With Visual Generative AI on NVIDIA RTX PCs
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.