Overview

What is OpenRocket?

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The OpenRocket Logo

Welcome! OpenRocket is an open-source model rocket simulation software application. It was originally developed by Sampo Niskanen in 2009 as part of his master thesis at what was then Helsinki University of Technology. If you want to have a look at his thesis you can download it from OpenRocket’s technical documentation page. Written entirely in Java, OpenRocket is fully cross-platform. To install the software, please refer to the Installation Instructions

OpenRocket is intended to be used by rocketeers who want to test the performance of a model rocket before actually building and flying it. The software accurately computes the aerodynamic properties of rockets and simulates their flight, returning a wide range of technical results.

The program can be roughly divided into two sections:

  • Rocket design: In this phase, you can design the model rocket you intend to build, choosing from a wide range of body components, trapezoidal, elliptical, and free-form fins, inner components, and mass objects. During this phase, you will see a 2D representation of the rocket you are building and various technical information, such as size, mass, apogee, max. velocity, max. acceleration, stability, center of gravity (CG), and center of pressure (CP) about your rocket. This allows you to have a good idea of its performance even before running any simulation.

  • Flight simulation: In this phase, you can run one or more simulations of your rocket’s flight, choosing from one or more motor configurations. Each simulation, calculated using the Runge-Kutta 4 simulator, returns a wide range of data about the rocket’s flight. Unfortunately, for the moment, a graphical visualization of the rocket’s flight is not available (help needed).

For more information about OpenRocket’s features and a few screenshots you can have a look here.

How this Documentation is Organized

Attention

This documentation is still a work in progress, so some sections may be incomplete. If you want to help us improve it, please refer to the Contribute section.

This documentation is organized in 4 main sections:

  1. Introduction: this section contains general information about OpenRocket, such as its history, its features, and how to contribute to the project.

  2. Setup: this section contains information about how to install and run OpenRocket on your computer.

  3. User Guide: this section contains information about how to use OpenRocket to design and simulate your model rockets.

  4. Developer Guide: this section contains information about how to contribute to the development of OpenRocket.