ket to the pad.
Pushing the yellow "Pause" button freezes the rocket in flight so that you
can record data from the flight. A purple "Resume" button is pushed to continue
To the right of the buttons are output text fields showing the
elapsed time of the flight, the current velocity, and the maximum altitude attained.
During ascent, the maximum altitude is the current altitude.
Using the sliders beneath the buttons, you are able to set the angle of the launch rail, and to set
the wind speed. Positive velocity is from the right of the graphic.
The "Percentage Real Time" slider allows you to control the speed of the animation. 100% is real time,
and higher values cause the animation to proceed more slowly. (Because of a refresh problem in
Internet Explorer, we recommend using a value greater than 400% for that browser. Otherwise the
instantaneous time, velocity, and altitude outputs are not properly updated. Hitting the "Pause"
button will display the correct values, however.)
The Learning Technologies
Project will continue to improve and update RocketModeler based on user
input. The history of changes is included here:
On 14 Jan 03,
version 1.2 was released. This version includes the multi-stage capability and
some bug fixes associated with the calculation of the engine weight.
On 14 Dec 01,
version 1.1 was released. This version includes controls on the speed of the animation,
options for the number of fins, output of instantaneous velocity and altitude, and a
countdown to launch.