Status update

There's a lot being done - at least behind the scenes - on JSBSim these days. We've gotten some additional experienced eyes on the code, which has been very helpful. Some attention is being paid to the equations of motion, tweaking it to more precisely support orbital vehicle modeling. The quaternion and matrix classes have been enhanced a bit to support expanded conversion between the two types.

There is a new tool being developed that sits on top of Digital DATCOM. One of the formats that can be output by this tool that computes aerodynamic characteristics of arbitrary configurations is the JSBSim format. This tool is associated with DATCOM+, which is developed by Bill Galbraith. You can find out more about the new GUI tool at http://www.openae.org.

Some improvements in the rocket engine model have been added for launch vehicle modeling and simulation. Modeling multiple stages is still not really possible in JSBSim, and that's one thing I'd like to see happen in 2010!

Happy new year!