Rocketry Planet

WORLD WIDE WEB — Matt Wronkiewicz of Ballistic Aerospace Technologies announced today the availability of Virtual Range version 1.0, a rocket flight simulator for the Mac OS X operating system.

"Virtual Range can simulate the flight of a rocket model in real time (on sufficiently powerful CPUs) and tell you if it is stable," Wronkiewicz said in his online announcement. "It will also record the maximum altitude and acceleration, and the time until apogee."

Virtual Range software available for Mac OS X systems

Virtual Range can read both RockSim format rocket files and wRASP thrust curves. The software estimates the aerodynamic forces acting on the rocket in flight using the US Air Force DATCOM drag methods and Barrowman’s center of pressure method. 

"The simulated flight is displayed with basic, but accurate graphics," Wronkiewicz said. "This project could not have been completed without the help of Greg Lyzenga and the Rocketry Organization of California."

Features

• Degrees of freedom: 3 (altitude, downrange, pitch)
• Rocket model input format: RockSim
• Engine model input format: wRASP
• Maximum altitude: Simulation accurate to 30 km
• Maximum speed: Simulation accurate to mach 2.0
• Calculate coefficient of drag: Yes
• Calculate center of pressure: Yes
• Calculate center of gravity: Yes

System requirements

• Operating system: Requires Mac OS X v. 10.5 or later
• Computer processor: PowerPC G5 or Intel
• Screen resolution: 1024 × 768 or higher
• Graphics: 3-D acceleration required

If you have a Macintosh with a speedy G5 or Intel Core CPU, check Virtual Range out at http://ballistic.wronkiewicz.net/node/4.