OpenRocket is a great piece of sim software. However, it has many limitations and approximations. For SSI's upcoming rockoon launch for a spaceshot attempt, we need more. The changes made or to be made are listed below:
- Incorporating an initial spin rate to provide stability
- Switching to the NRLMSISE-00 empirical atmosphere model
- Fix calculation of speed of sound
- Add NOAA wind data for Spaceport America
- Incorporating a coefficient of drag for a finless rocket
- Accounting for the effect of Magnus force on a spinning rocket
- Allowing piping in of aerodynamic coefficients from CFD software
- Integrating some kind of coefficient estimator like Digital DATCOM
- Allowing the addition of conical "boattails" at any position on the rocket
- Integrating 3D GUI from Cambridge Rocketry
- Adding Monte Carlo ability
OpenRocket is a free, fully featured model rocket simulator that allows you to design and simulate your rockets before actually building and flying them.
The main features include:
- Six-degree-of-freedom flight simulation
- Automatic design optimization
- Realtime simulated altitude, velocity and acceleration display
- Staging and clustering support
- Cross-platform (Java-based)
Read more about it on the OpenRocket Wiki.
OpenRocket is an Open Source project licensed under the GNU GPL. This means that the software is free to use for whatever purposes, and the source code is also available for studying and extending.
OpenRocket needs help to become even better. Implementing features, writing documentation and creating example designs are just a few ways of helping. If you are interested in helping make OpenRocket the best rocket simulator out there, please click here for information on how to get involved!