Since Orbiter's atmosphere model has been discussed quite a bit recently, I finally decided to revisit and rewrite the Earth atmosphere model. I have selected a moderately complex model (L. G. Jacchia, Thermospheric Temperature, Density, and Composition: New Models, Smithson. Astrophys. Obs. Spec. Rept. No. 375, 1977) which covers the range from 90 to 2500km (using a static standard atmosphere model below 90km). The only model parameter (apart from altitude) is the exospheric temperature. I found a plausible model for the diurnal exosphere temperature variations (Montenbruck, Satellite Orbits), but I won't include any dynamic parameters that depend on observation data (geomagnetic activity, solar flux).
This would be good news (first time I have seen this thread, BTW). I did spend a couple of flights exploring the Earth atmospehere in Orbiter to check the existence of temperature variations at different levels, night and day side, back when I was not as familiar as I am now with the inner workings of the sim and did not know where to read the data directly in the files. I was precisely hoping to find Thermosphere and Mesosphere diurnal variations in temperature.
I also wondered on the relevance these temperatures variations might have on the selection of reentry window times for real Shuttle operations, if at all(?).
Now, maybe a bit off topic.
In the rest of the post (the "EI" theme), it would be nice if the level of the Tropopause would could be variable depending on latitude (an expanding atmosphere). I played around with this (with absolutely no favourable results) when I attempted to make a comet with an expanding coma, using the CELBODY interface. It is a bit limited (as my programming skills may be, to engage in this sort of project just yet
), from a development point of view. How about an expansion of the CELBODY API capabilities, nothing fantastic, but to cover this sort of thing?