March 8, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Does anyone know of software that can be used be estimate and demonstrate the performance of liquid and solid-propellant rockets – something that could be used to teach subjects such as the effect of fuel fraction, specific impulse and staging on vehicle performance, vehicle range, and orbital capability?
There are several programs intended for the amateur model-rocket community, but the only software I’ve found for full-scale rockets is that downloadable from the Bharat Rashak website.
Unfortunately, its opening screen displays what can only be described as a rather nasty piece of anti-Pakistani propaganda, while moving away from that opening screen requires the user to click on a button to indicate agreement with a bombastic pro-Indian statement.
There is no way that such software could be used as a teaching aid unless the user was in a hurry to face disciplinary proceedings.
On the technical side, there also the problem that this software assumes a single elevation angle for the burn time of each that each stage. It cannot model a vertical launch followed by a turnover manoeuvre.
By: sferrin - 9th March 2009 at 12:37
Check your PM.