The ARES cockpit mockup, developed by students as part of the Graduate Project curriculum over a 5 year period under the mentorship of Col. Jim Voss, has evolved into a testbed that can be oriented in a vertical or horizontal configuration for assessing ascent or entry modes of flight, respectively. The facility now supports human factors testing and evaluation of cockpit layout and operations. A flight simulator system controlled by an external instructor console is currently being developed and implemented. The initial composite shell was donated by the Sierra Nevada Corporation in support of their Dream Chaser commercial crew efforts and the cockpit infrastructure development was also sponsored in part by the William F. Marlar Memorial Foundation.
