A two-stage rocket launches above a curved Earth. Track the attitude, propellant, stage separation and trajectory as gravity bends the flight path. Compare a vertical launch with a progressive pitch program and inspect whether the calculated orbit stays above Earth.
• A real-time 3D scene with 5 inspectable parts (Curved Earth and gravity source, Staged launch vehicle, Thrust plume, Integrated flight trail, Stage and propellant cutaway), with home view, focus-selected-part, auto-rotate, expand, instrument-cover and hide-labels scene tools, plus a model response curve beneath the scene. • Experiment controls: Payload mass (2-15 tonnes); Throttle (50-100 %); Start pitch program (5-80 flight s); Pitch duration (60-240 flight s); Final pitch from local vertical (0-90 °); Flight seconds per animation second (1-30 s/s); Cut off when perigee exceeds 160 km; pause/resume, 0.1 s and 1 s single-step buttons, four playback speeds and a restart button. • Live readouts: Flight time; Altitude; Inertial speed; Vehicle mass; Remaining propellant; Osculating perigee altitude. • A Geometry & measurements tab with a parameter-comparison chart, a live-measurements chart, the model equations and snapshot readouts. • An Experiments tab with 3 guided presets (Vertical launch is not orbit; Progressive pitch; Heavy payload / reduced thrust) and a Model verification bench that runs independent fresh models, plus a timestamped event log and a copyable trial report. • A Learn & assess tab with guided lessons, a knowledge-check quiz with reset and a written model-scope statement linking to a technical reference.
Earth μ=398600.4418 km³/s², radius6371km r¨=−μr/|r|³+(T/m) û; ṁ=−T/(Isp g0) Stage1: propellant200t, dry20t, thrust4000kN, Isp300s Stage2: propellant50t, dry4t, thrust800kN, Isp350s; payload adjustable Specific energy=v²/2−μ/r; h=|r×v|; rp=h²/[μ(1+e)]
Idealized planar vacuum launch from a nonrotating spherical Earth; no air drag, atmosphere, lift, heating, real engine limits or guidance optimization. Fixed pitch schedule is not an autopilot. Reported osculating perigee can be below Earth for a suborbital trajectory. Representative vehicle, not a real rocket performance prediction.
No. The trajectory must have enough sideways velocity and a perigee above Earth.
No. It can correctly describe an osculating orbit that intersects Earth.
Idealized planar vacuum launch from a nonrotating spherical Earth; no air drag, atmosphere, lift, heating, real engine limits or guidance optimization. Fixed pitch schedule is not an autopilot. Reported osculating perigee can be below Earth for a suborbital trajectory. Representative vehicle, not a real rocket performance prediction.