
Penumbra
Software R&D
Our self-developed multifunctional rocket simulator, prevailing where the standard solutions fall short, to keep Propulse at the cutting edge of simulation technology and experimental rocket design.
Among the capabilities are accurate trajectory prediction at transonic and supersonic speeds, design optimization of aerodynamic structures, development and testing of physical hardware in a simulated environment, advanced fluid mechanics using numerical methods, and stochastic analysis.
Technical details
Previously, the Penumbra team has developed a high-performance, statistical rocket trajectory simulator, written in C++. Last year, the work mainly consisted of developing a graphical user interface in JavaScript for smooth data visualisation.
The current team is innovating and improving upon this existing simulator framework, and looking into integreation of computational fluid dynamics. This new venture may lead to a unique and very interesting software development project, yielding great results for Propulse and student rocketry in general.


Potential areas of responsibility
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6 degrees of freedom dynamics
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Implementation of Computational Fluid Dynamics
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Analytic aerodynamics
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Design optimization of aerodynamic structures
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Hardware integration and testing
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Advanced wind modelling
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Stochastic analysis
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Code efficiency
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User Interface
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File handling
Joning Penumbra
Does this R&D project sound like something for you? Members of Penumbra get a lot of freedom and can contribute to defining the goals of the group itself. It requires a driven, independent person with an adaptive mindset to be able to familiarize yourself with unknown software. You will work together with other developers and engineers from other groups in Propulse, to create relevant software for the organisation.
Unlike the other groups in Propulse, Penumbra has no requirements to the amount of work you do. Long term (about a year), short term (a couple of weeks), or continuous (until completion of a feature or by choice) involvement can be agreed upon.
Got any questions?
Contact the Penumbra Lead, Harald Bjerkeli:
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