Meco Rocket Simulator

Meco Rocket Simulator is a rocket engine design simulator that uses real physics. You design, build and test engines by placing pumps, injectors, valves and nozzles on a node graph, connecting them, setting values and running tests. Changes appear in live graphs and 3D hardware, so you can study how a design affects engine performance.

Design and test engines

Adjusting an injector orifice changes the chamber pressure curve in real time; tightening the cooling channels reduces the thermal margin, and reshaping the nozzle changes specific impulse (Isp). You can sample pump and turbine performance curves as you tune the engine.

The Thrust Chamber creates a Rao bell contour from four values and lays out regenerative cooling channels in 3D. The Turbopump sizes its own shafts and gears. The game renders supersonic flow through the bell as a 3D volume, grays out regions beyond the point of flow separation, and calculates thrust by integrating the flow field rather than using a lookup table.

The Injector Head sits between the propellant lines and the chamber. You choose a coaxial or pintle design, set the two orifice legs and choose an element pattern; the head then builds its geometry in 3D, with the wells updating as you type.

You can schedule each valve to control the startup sequence, including spinning up the pumps, opening the valves and lighting the gas generator. A correct sequence runs the engine nominally; if it is wrong, the graphs show where the problem lies.

Mission Mode

Mission Mode has 14 guided missions, from learning what a model is to recreating the Merlin 1D used on Falcon 9. Senior engineer Miku Aoyama guides you through the work. On most objectives, a “Need a hint?” button identifies what is wrong with a build that misses its target. Graded missions award bronze, silver or gold medal tiers for each result.

The story begins on your first day as an underpaid engineer at Mecodyne, a rocket propulsion company. You accidentally start a Vulcain 1 on a coworker's workstation; the graphs come alive and the engine runs. This is Mission 0, from which the missions build onward.

Engineering and real engines

Engineering Mode lets you skip the missions and work in a free-build editor. Start with an empty canvas, place components on the node-based editor, set their values, use live graphs and real-time samplers, then run a test.

You can test-fire the Merlin 1D in Mission 13 or start from its free-build template, build an F-1 from scratch, or experiment with an engine design of your own. The same components and physics apply to recreations and original designs. The game models combustion, fluid dynamics and heat transfer through regenerative cooling channels in real time, and measures thrust and engine Isp.

Missions and components

The missions cover Chapters I to IV and open Chapter V, Legendary GG Engines, with Mission 13 on recreating the Merlin 1D. Mission 12 teaches the coaxial or pintle Injector Head on a LOX and liquid-hydrogen engine; the Merlin 1D in Mission 13 uses a pintle. Six missions begin with components arranged on a plumbed bench, so you build the part each one teaches. Results in graded missions have bronze, silver and gold medal tiers, with the number required for the next tier shown.

The simulator includes the Thrust Chamber, Turbopump and Injector Head assemblies, with live 3D hardware from the injector face to the gear train. Its Display Units let you choose how outputs appear, including kN for thrust and bar for pressure, across charts, samplers and mission text.