Using RockSim/OpenRocket to get a better grasp of rocketry?

Hi all,

After a little finessing, I got my old copy of RockSim 8 up and running. While, of course, I'd love to dive right in an design my own rockets, I am no where near that level of understanding. So what I am trying to do is use RockSim to help me better understand the components of a rocket and how they affect the flight profile.

I've started off by taking a simple rocket, say the Estes Alpha, and modifying a single component (e.g. body tube length) and keeping track of how the flight changes as I modify that component. I've gotten a little bit of guidance from the chapters on aerodynamics and stability in the Handbook of Model Rocketry. Still, I feel I'm going about this kinda randomly. (I don't have any physics or engineering background.)

I've spent some time searching for high school or college curricula using RockSim and while I've found some stuff, most of it seems to be one-day seminars on just the basics and doesn't go much beyond CG/CP discussions. I was hoping to find something more advanced....maybe a set of exercises leading me through the basics of rocketry design experimentation.

Is there a resource I am just overlooking? Any suggestions would be welcome.

Hi Michael!

There are a lot of Rocksim resources available on the https://www.apogeerockets.com/ website, along with tons of basic and advanced info in their newsletters and videos. I'd start there.

Also consider purchasing https://www.apogeerockets.com/Rocket_Books_Videos/Books/Model_Rocket_Design_And_Construction.

This book compiles many of the newsletter articles with some structured chapters on all aspects of Model Rocketry and ties in closely to Rocksim.


Good Luck and have fun!


Jerome

Jerome thank you! I had totally forgotten about Tim's book.

Yep, I plan of spending some time this weekend starting to read through the Peak of Flight archives. Wow, there sure are a lot of them.

I recently wrote an article on Flight Physics you might enjoy.

The fellow who wrote Open Rocket also has his thesis (detailing the development of Open Rocket) available online:

https://openrocket.sourceforge.net/thesis.pdf

The link is the direct download, if you want to check out his software, just remove the /thesis.pdf from that URL.

BTW, I also just found this thread, in case you didn't see it already:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?54295-Mathematics-of-rocketry