Port-O-Sim is a software application that supports engineering modeling and simulation of launch-range systems and subsystems, as well as the vehicles that operate on them. It is flexible, distributed, object-oriented, and real-time. A scripting language is used to configure an array of simulation objects and link them together. The script is contained in a text file, but executed and controlled using a graphical user interface.

A set of modules is defined, each with input variables, output variables, and settings. These engineering models can be either linked to each other or run as standalone. The settings can be modified during execution.

Since 2001, this application has been used for pre-mission failure mode training for many Range Safety Scenarios. It contains range asset link analysis, develops look-angle data, supports sky-screen site selection, drives GPS (Global Positioning System) and IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) simulators, and can support conceptual design efforts for multiple flight programs with its capacity for rapid six-degrees-of-freedom model development. Due to the assembly of various object types into one application, the application is applicable across a wide variety of launch range problem domains.

This work was done by Raymond J Lanzi of Goddard Space Flight Center. GSC-15571-1