Planetary Rocket Simulation
Overview
During my Spring 2021 Semester at Weber State, I took a course called PHYS 2300 - Scientific Computing. In this course, we programmed simulations of physical systems,
such as projectile motion, pendulums, orbits, and molecular dynamics. The course was comprised of six different programming projects, and a final project.
For the final project, we were tasked with picking a physical system of our choosing to simulate.
Naturally, I decided to program a rocket launch off of a planetary body. The video below is my class video presentation on my project. In the video, I go over some of the physics behind the
simulation, and also show the simulation in action. If you're more interested in the simulation itself, I've detailed the important stuff below, and you can skip the video.
Development of the Simulation
This simulation was programmed in VPython, a version of python built for programming 3D annimations, simulations, and displays. Due to the simpliicty VPython Graphics, there are no fancy special effects for the launch, or even a physically correct model for the rocket itself. I used my physics knowledge of Newton's 2nd and 3rd Laws and my python programming experience to put this simulation together.
The Physics of the Simulation
Classical Mechanics, more specifically Newton's three laws of motion are crucial to the operation of a rocket. For this simulation, I only included gravity, thrust, and drag in the vertical directions.
Lift and drag in the x directions were omitted due to time constraints. Simply put, this simulation is a the rocket going up.
I included several different variables that can be tweaked.
First, I included the ability to change which planetary body you are launching your rocket from. This modifies the mass and radius variables, and as a consequence, the force of gravity, and air density of the atmosphere.