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CFD streamlines resolved over a DRACO airframe with the airbrakes deployed
/ Technical DivisionDRACO Division

Flight Performance

Trajectory & ApogeeStabilityAerodynamics & CFDMonte Carlo
/ OverviewWhat We Predict

Flight, before there is a flight

Flight Performance simulates, predicts, and analyzes how DRACO's rockets will behave before launch — so design and launch decisions are backed by analysis rather than assumption. This division leads all major simulation work across the team.

  • OpenRocket
  • RASAero II
  • RocketPy
  • CFD tools
  • Monte Carlo analysis
  • Python
/ MethodThe Prediction Pipeline

Model → Predict → Resolve → Bound

Each stage narrows the uncertainty around how the vehicle will actually fly.

01Model

Build the vehicle model

Geometry, mass properties, and motor data are assembled into a simulation model that mirrors the real vehicle as closely as the design allows.

02Predict

Simulate the flight

The model is flown in software to predict trajectory, apogee, velocity, and acceleration under expected launch-day conditions.

03Resolve

Analyze the aerodynamics

CFD resolves the airflow, pressure field, and drag around the airframe — including configurations the simpler models can't capture.

04Bound

Quantify the uncertainty

Monte Carlo runs and sensitivity studies sweep randomized conditions to bound the range of outcomes, not just the nominal case.

/ Fig. 01The Vehicle Model

Every prediction starts with the model

Geometry, mass properties, and motor data are assembled into a simulation model of the vehicle. The model then reports the stability margin the design has to satisfy before it can fly.

Fig. 01OpenRocket · vehicle model
OpenRocket model of a DRACO vehicle showing internal component layout, centre of gravity, and centre of pressure
The simulation model with its internal component layout, centre of gravity, and centre of pressure marked.
Length
124in
Max diameter
6.17in
Mass, dry
47.3lb
Mass, with motors
57.8lb

Stability is the first gate

A rocket is stable when its centre of pressure sits behind its centre of gravity — the separation between them, measured in calibers, is the stability margin. Too little and the vehicle won't hold its heading; the margin is checked before anything is committed to manufacturing.

Stability margin
2.35cal

11.7% of body length

Centre of gravity
70.731in

from the nose tip

Centre of pressure
85.244in

evaluated at Mach 0.300

Model output · not a measured flight result

/ Fig. 02Trajectory & Apogee

Where the vehicle goes

Simulated flight paths give the team an expected apogee, velocity, and drift envelope — the numbers a launch decision actually rests on.

Fig. 02RocketPy · 3D trajectory
Simulated three-dimensional flight trajectory plotted against altitude, east, and north position
The simulated flight path in three dimensions, with its projections onto each plane — altitude against downrange position east and north.

A prediction, with its uncertainty

A single simulation gives one answer. Real launch days vary — wind, temperature, motor performance, mass. Monte Carlo analysis sweeps many randomized conditions to produce a range of likely outcomes, and sensitivity studies identify which variables move the result most.

Apogee
4,666ft
Max velocity
175m/s

Mach 0.516

Max acceleration
112m/s²

Predicted by the Fig. 01 model · not a measured flight result

/ Fig. 03Aerodynamics & CFD

Resolving the airflow

Computational fluid dynamics resolves the pressure field and wake around the airframe — including the deployed-airbrake configurations that simpler models can't capture.

Fig. 03CFD · pressure field
CFD pressure field around a DRACO airframe with the airbrakes deployed, showing the low-pressure wake behind them
Pressure field around the airframe with the airbrakes deployed. The wake trailing each brake is the drag the active control system trades for apogee.
Fig. 04CFD · surface streamlines
CFD streamlines traced over the airframe surface and around the deployed airbrakes
Streamlines traced over the airframe. Where they separate and reattach around the brakes is what sets the drag the simulation predicts.
/ Cross-Division

Validating the Airbrakes system

Airbrakes & Apogee Control develops the active drag system that fine-tunes apogee in flight. Flight Performance supplies the simulation and aerodynamic validation that system is designed against — the two divisions work the same problem from different ends.

/ ScopeCore Responsibilities

What Flight Performance owns

01

Trajectory, apogee & stability prediction

Predicting where the vehicle goes, how high it gets, and whether it stays pointed the right way.

02

Aerodynamic analysis & CFD

Simulating the airflow around the rocket to understand drag, pressure distribution, and aerodynamic behaviour.

03

Monte Carlo & sensitivity studies

Running many randomized launch conditions to gauge the range of likely outcomes and which variables matter most.

04

Performance modeling for design decisions

Turning proposed design changes into predicted performance so the team can choose between them with evidence.

05

Simulation support for Airbrakes

Providing the simulation and aerodynamic validation the Airbrakes & Apogee Control division builds its active drag system against.

A barred spiral galaxy captured by the Hubble Space Telescope

/ Confidence Before Flight

Analysis is how we earn the launch

Flight Performance turns a design into predicted behaviour — so that by launch day, the team already knows what the vehicle should do.

Meet the Flight Performance TeamExplore Our Rockets