WORLD WIDE WEB — A new open-source simulation software project has been released to the general public for free under the GPL license. Lawndart is an open-source model rocket simulator written for Linux users, developed due to the lack of a sophisticated model rocket simulator for Linux.

"While Lawndart was developed for Linux, it should be easily portable to other operating systems, and official ports are planned for the future," stated developer Sean Wells.  Having just completed the beta phase, the software has been released to the public along with the source code. Both can be downloaded from the Lawndart web site now.

"Please keep in mind that Lawndart is still beta-quality software, and may or may not meet your needs," Wells stated in the release announcement. As of now, and for the first few versions, Lawndart's capabilities are limited to a basic one-dimensional, two degree-of-freedom simulation.  This will change in the future as new capabilities and features are developed and tested. 

Future features:

• Building a rocket up from parts
• Network output of flight data
• Visualization of flight
• 3D View of rocket
• Calculation of Center of Gravity
• Calculation of Center of Pressure
• Effects of wind
• Effects of launch rod angle

If you are interested in helping with the software, want to stay informed on the software's development or just want to ask for additional information, you may contact the developer at: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

Website: http://www.lawndartsim.org