README

Space Launch Simulator v0.1a
William Earley
Feb 2013

License: GPLv3, see gpl.txt
If you use this software, please reference the original

This software will compute many different variables over the course of a
launch simulation. It is generalised, and you can input any number of
stages and burn phases, with ranges or constant ISPs and other variables

python sls.py

Run the above command to see sample output data for the Apollo 11
Saturn V, first 11:52 of the launch, using a mission profile from
http://www.braeunig.us/apollo/saturnV.htm
Note that the simulation does not exactly reproduce his results,
however it was close enough for my needs, feel free to tweak the
mission profile to more closely approximate the launch

There is currently no documentation, below is a brief description
of each python file and what it does to try to make up for the lack
of documentation, please also note that all units are SI

	interpolation.py provides a number of mathematical tools for
		interpolating by akima cubic spline, integrating, matrices
		and linear system solving, and others
		
	rocket.py provides a number of generic classes for holding data
		for use in other classes
		
	atmosphere.py provides an atmosphere class, which takes in a
		csv file containing:
		
		altitude /m
		air temp /K
		air density /kg/m3
		pressure /Pa
		molar mass /g/mol
		specific heat ratio
	
		and then provides functions interpolating all of these values
		across the entire altitude range, make sure that the altitude
		is in the correct order, and increasing
		
	sim.py provides the sim class, which carries out the simulations.
		A sample use is in sls.py
	
	sls.py may one day be a front end for the simulator, currently
		just performs one example launch (Apollo 11 Saturn V)
		and saves the distance/drag data to the file sim.dat for
		use in gnuplot