Atmosphere

Atmosphere is an optional aircraft component that simulates the atmosphere parameters such as air density, pressure and temperature. It is not global and needs to be added to each aircraft that will use it.

If the Atmosphere is not attached the AircraftController and Airfoil will use default air density, temperature, and other parameters which roughly equal typical sea-level values.

Altitude is automatically derived from the GameObject's Y position, so the component dynamically adjusts atmospheric properties as the aircraft climbs or descends.

The only adjustable values are:

• T0 (sea level temperature) - the temperature in Kelvin at sea level.
• TL (temperature lapse rate) - drop in temperature in Kelvin for each meter climbed.
• P0 (air pressure at G0) - air pressure in [Pa] at standard gravity.

If using the NWH Aerodynamics on Earth-like planets these parameters can be left on their defaults.

Output Properties

The Atmosphere component calculates and provides several read-only properties that can be accessed at runtime:

• rho - Current air density in kg/m³
• P - Current atmospheric pressure in Pa
• T - Current air temperature in K
• Cs - Speed of sound in m/s
• M - Mach number

These values are automatically calculated based on altitude and can be used by other aircraft systems or custom scripts.