Question

Sounding rockets are used to probe different levels of the atmosphere to collect information such as that used to monitor the levels of ozone in the atmosphere. In addition to carrying the scientific package for collecting data in the upper atmosphere, the rocket carries a telemetry system in its nose to transmit data to a receiver at the launch site. Besides the scientific data, performance measurements on the rocket itself are transmitted to be monitored by range safety personal and to be later analyzed by engineers. These performance data include altitude, velocity, and acceleration data. Assume that this information is stored in a file and that each line contains four values: time, altitude, velocity, and acceleration. Assume that the unites are s, m, m/s and m/s².

1. Assume that the file rocket1.dat contains an initial line that specifies the number of actual data lines that follows. Write a program that reads these data and determines the time at which the rocket begin falling back to earth. HINT: Determine the time at which the altitude begins to decrease.
2. The number of stages in the rocket can be determined by the number of times the velocity increases to some peak and then begins decreasing. Write a program that reads these data and determines the number of stages on the rocket. Use the data file rocket2.dat. It contains a trailer line with the value -99 for all four values.
3. Modify the program so that it print the times that corresponds to the firing of each stage. Assume the firing corresponds to the point at which the velocity begins to increase.

Answer 1

The student needs to write programs to determine when a sounding rocket begins to fall back to Earth, identify the number of stages of the rocket, and print the times when each stage fires using time, altitude, velocity, and acceleration data from a file.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question involves writing programs to analyze data from a sounding rocket using a data file. The first task is to determine the time at which the rocket begins falling back to Earth by analyzing altitude data. The second task involves reading velocity data to determine the number of stages in the rocket's flight. The third task requires modifying the program to print the times corresponding to the firing of each stage, inferred from when the velocity begins to increase. These tasks involve concepts of file input/output, control structures for reading through data, and algorithms to discern patterns in telemetry data.To determine the time at which the rocket begins falling back to earth, you would need to read the data from the file rocket1.dat and identify when the altitude starts to decrease. This can be done by examining the altitude values and finding the first instance where the altitude decreases from the previous value.

The number of stages in the rocket can be determined by counting the number of times the velocity increases to a peak value and then decreases. To do this, you would need to read the data from the file rocket2.dat and track changes in the velocity values.To print the times that correspond to the firing of each stage, you would need to track changes in the velocity values and record the corresponding time values. This would involve reading the data from the file rocket2.dat and comparing consecutive velocity values to determine when the velocity begins to increase.