The Mission Analysis IPT, within the Aerodynamics and Flight Dynamics Department, specializes in rocket trajectory analysis and aerodynamics optimization using custom scripts. Our team develops simulators to predict the behavior of both individual subsystems and the complete rocket. We evaluate launch conditions through stochastic simulations to determine if external conditions are suitable for launch day takeoff, and how they will affect the outcome.
Our team maintains and updates “MSA-Toolkit,” a GitLab repository containing all our code. We continuously work to improve our simulators’ accuracy and accessibility. Since we develop all code from scratch, team members need strong MATLAB skills. We provide several MATLAB workshops throughout the year to support this requirement.
Our primary responsibility is accurately predicting rocket trajectories. Precise estimates of flight parameters—including velocity, landing points, and apogee—are crucial from initial design through to launch. We also conduct extensive stochastic simulations to gather reliable data across various launch conditions, including different launchpad elevations and wind conditions, ensuring comprehensive analysis of all scenarios.
Our sensitivity analysis code examines correlations between initial conditions and flight parameters such as static margin, apogee, and structural stresses. This analysis runs numerous flight simulations with varied parameters.
We optimize the rocket aerodynamics by evaluating different shapes and dimensions for the nose cone, fins, and boat tail. Our genetic algorithm tests numerous combinations to find the most effective design for reducing aerodynamic drag.
We analyse our engine’s thrust data to determine optimal specifications that other departments must follow to achieve our target apogee. Due to uncertainty in rocket mass during the design phase, we’ve developed code to calculate potential apogee heights across different mass ranges and engine configurations.
