# ? Problem Statement: Rocket Design and Flight Simulation Application
## Overview
There is a critical need for an intuitive, extensible, and technically rigorous software application
that empowers hobbyists, students, certification candidates, and early-career engineers to design, 
simulate, and optimize low-power, mid-power, high-power, and amateur-class rockets. The tool must
emphasize accessibility, modularity, and educational transparency, and be written in clean,
modern C++ using an object-oriented architecture. It must support both immediate practical needs
(rocket design, flight prediction) and deeper study of aerospace physics and software engineering
principles.

The platform must remain open-source, support .ork file compatibility, and operate reliably across
Linux, Mac, and Windows environments.

## Goals
 - **Modern Design Tools**: Allow users to easily create and modify rocket models, specifying
 parameters like airframes, mass properties, center of gravity (CG), center of pressure (CP),
 propulsion systems, and aerodynamic surfaces.

 - **Physics-Based Flight Simulation**: Simulate rocket flight through launch, coast, apogee, descent,
 and recovery, using accurate force models (thrust, drag, gravity, weather effects).

 - **Extensible Simulation Architecture**: Architect the system to initially support
 3 Degree-of-Freedom (3-DoF) simulations, but natively prepare for future extension to 6-DoF
 (full 3D translation and rotation dynamics) without major rework.

 - **Educational Transparency**: Build the codebase to be highly readable, logically organized, and
 deeply documented, promoting learning about flight dynamics and systems modeling.

 - **Component Modularity**: Each rocket component (e.g., motors, fins, payloads, recovery systems)
 must exist as independent, interchangeable modules.

 - **Visualization**: Provide meaningful visual outputs, including:

   - 2D/3D trajectory plots

   - Stability margin graphs (e.g., CG-CP margin over time)

   - Thrust, velocity, and altitude vs. time graphs

 - **Certification-Ready Fidelity**: Achieve simulation fidelity that can support Tripoli Rocketry
 Association and NAR Level 3 certification requirements.

 - **Competitive Capability**: Aim to function as a drop-in replacement or superior alternative to
 tools like OpenRocket and RockSim Pro.

 - **Cross-Platform Support**: Deliver fully supported builds on Linux, Mac, and Windows.

## User Personas

- **Hobbyist Rocketeer**: Designs and refines personal rockets, needing accuracy and usability
 without extensive technical setup.

- **High School/University Student**: Builds rockets for courses, competitions, or research projects,
using simulation to test and verify designs.

- **STEM Educator**: Leverages the tool in classrooms to teach core concepts of dynamics, propulsion,
aerodynamics, and systems engineering.

- **Certification Candidate (NAR/Tripoli)**: Designs rockets intended for Level 1, 2, or 3
certification and needs trustworthy simulation results.

- **Aerospace Engineering Student/Professional**: Uses the tool to prototype amateur designs, and
values modular, clear, and modern C++ code.

## Operating Constraints
- **Language**: Must be written in modern C++ (C++17 or newer) with strong attention to modularity,
memory safety, and performance.

- **Portability**: Must fully support Linux, Mac, and Windows platforms with minimal
platform-specific code.

- **Open Source**: Must be licensed under a permissive open-source license (e.g., MIT or BSD
3-clause) to encourage adoption, study, and contribution.

- **File Format Compatibility**: Must support import/export of OpenRocket (.ork) files, ensuring
interoperability with existing hobbyist ecosystems.

- **Performance**: Must run smoothly on consumer-grade hardware and support both interactive design
work and batch simulation runs for optimization.

- **Incremental Upgrades**: Initial release will support 3-DoF dynamics (translational motion only)
but architecture must cleanly allow extension to full 6-DoF dynamics (translational + rotational
motion).

## User Interface Requirements
- **Modular Design**: The UI should be modular, allowing for easy addition of new features and
components without breaking existing functionality.

- **Intuitive Interaction**: The interface should be intuitive and user-friendly, with clear
labels, tooltips, and responsive design.