Can you have two different configurations for a rocket in RockSim and OpenRocket

[MetricRocketeer]

Hi TRF colleagues,

I want to simulate a rocket flight in both RockSim and OpenRocket using two different configurations -- one using just one parachute and another one also using a drogue parachute with dual deployment.

I know how to simulate each configuration -- without dual deployment use only one parachute, and with dual deployment have a drogue parachute set up in addition to the main parachute.

The problem is this. After I run the dual deployment, I need to delete the drogue parachute. And then I proceed to simulate a flight with the rocket's having only one parachute. At that point, however, the drogue parachute is gone. If I want to go back and simulate the dual-deployment flight again, I have to reenter all the parameters for the drogue parachute. And that's tedious.

One way around this in both programs would be to set up two different rockets for each configuration. Perhaps that's the only way to do this.

Would this be possible, however -- keep the drogue parachute in place but indicate it as a dummy parachute that gets ignored. Then I could do the simulation for the simple, non-dual-deployment flight. If I want to resimulate the dual-deployment flight, then I would have the drogue parachute no longer be indicated as a non-functioning dummy. May I please ask if this is possible.

Thank you for your consideration.

Stanley

 

[les]

Not certain about OpenRocket, but I believe in RS you can define when the parachute is deployed. You should be able to set it with a delay to not open until the rocket is grounded.
However, unless you use the mass override to set the drogue to something small, say 0.1g, its weight could still impact your sim. But then you could turn off the override if you want to go back to simulating the drogue.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

You can have multiple windows open with Open Rocket. It would be safest to make two copies of the base file, opening them in their own window. This is in case you mess up while working with one version. Or, you can be brave and just open the same file twice.

 

[MetricRocketeer]

Hi @les and @Sooner Boomer,

Thank you for your replies. They were very helpful.

Stanley

 

[T-Rex]

Also if you think you may want to refer to the files in the future, just save them as different file names. For example, add -SD and -DD to the files names (BSD Thor-SD.ork & BSD Thor-DD.ork). I do this with models that are capable of dual deploy, but fly mostly and single deploy.

 

[MetricRocketeer]

Hi @T-Rex,

Thank you for your suggestion.

Right. I am coming to the view that just having a different file for each configuration, which is what you suggest, may be the best and least confusing option.

Stanley

 

[neil_w]

In OR, can't you use the "Recovery" tab under "Motors and Configurations" to set the behavior for each motor configuration? I haven't used that much but there's quite a bit of capability there. I'm not 100% sure you can do what you want to do there but it's not clear that's been tried yet. I don't *think* you need to maintain two different files.

Disclaimer: I could be wrong on all of this

 

[MetricRocketeer]

Thank you, @neil_w. Let me look into this.

 

[MikeyDSlagle]

@MetricRocketeer
To add on to what @neil_w is talking about.
My experience is with OpenRocket only.
Yes you can tell the drogue to not deploy and save numerous configurations within the same model.
Select "Motors and Configuration", then "Deplyment". Select the configuration you want to simulate and simply copy (Copy Configuration, button top right) it so you will have two identical configurations. Change the configurations' names to keep track. If you have your parachutes named as Main and Drogue, or Big and Little, or some such it is easier to know which is which. Select the chute on the configuration you want to adjust and hit the "Select Deployment" button. The drop down menu has "Never" as an option. Also in that window be sure to select the second option "Override for the [xxxxx] configuration only" or it will change them all. Also don't forget to swap you main deployment to Apogee, ejection, or x amount of seconds or it will still pop at your set altitude, and at a high rate of speed.

You will still have all of your recovery gear in the model though so your weights will be off a bit.

 

[MetricRocketeer]

Hi @MikeyDSlagle,

Thank you very much for this useful and detailed information. Very helpful indeed.

Incidentally, I show the tab with the word "Recovery," not "Deployment." Perhaps we have some different versions. I just wanted you to know this in case it were important.

@MetricRocketeer
... Select "Motors and Configuration", then "Deplyment" ....

In any case, thank you so much for your reply. And I thank all of you TRF colleagues for your jumping in to help.

Stanley

 

[manixFan]

@MetricRocketeer
To add on to what @neil_w is talking about.
My experience is with OpenRocket only.
Yes you can tell the drogue to not deploy and save numerous configurations within the same model.
Select "Motors and Configuration", then "Deplyment". Select the configuration you want to simulate and simply copy (Copy Configuration, button top right) it so you will have two identical configurations. Change the configurations' names to keep track. If you have your parachutes named as Main and Drogue, or Big and Little, or some such it is easier to know which is which. Select the chute on the configuration you want to adjust and hit the "Select Deployment" button. The drop down menu has "Never" as an option. Also in that window be sure to select the second option "Override for the [xxxxx] configuration only" or it will change them all. Also don't forget to swap you main deployment to Apogee, ejection, or x amount of seconds or it will still pop at your set altitude, and at a high rate of speed.

You will still have all of your recovery gear in the model though so your weights will be off a bit.

Wow, learning something new everyday! I had never used the 'Motors and Configuration' portion to set up different recovery options as described above. Very cool and useful information. I often play with both the drogue and main size and being able to simply copy configurations and then have them all visible at once is a great feature. I tried making several different configurations with different sized chutes and it seems to work well. I used mass override to set the weight of the smaller chutes to zero to keep the overall weight fairly close (at least with small chutes).

Thanks to all,


Tony