CEA stands for "Chemical Equilibrium with Applications" and NASA means (for those who don't already know) "National Aeronautics and Space Administration".
"The NASA Computer program CEA calculates chemical equilibrium compositions and properties of complex mixtures. Applications include assigned thermodynamic states, theoretical rocket performance, Chapman-Jouguet detonations, and shock-tube parameters for incident and reflected shocks. ... The program is written in ANSI standard FORTRAN by Bonnie J. McBride and Sanford Gordon..."
Original FORTRAN (or FORmula TRANslator) is a language created in 1954(!!!), and released commercially in 1957. The start of the CEA program took place when not even NASA was called NASA.
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To make a long story short, many calculations were incorporated into the program, which was renamed CEA in 1994 (and remains to this day).
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Fun fact: FORTRAN is the oldest commercial programming language. It has 11 revisions and improvements, and the lastest one was launched in 2018!!!
The current version of CEA uses a Java applet to create a graphical interface to use the FORTRAN code (which is a batch-program style) to run, but it has no restrictions and field validations, and with that need was born CEA-INPE.
CEA-INPE is a brand-new graphical user interface to use with CEA-NASA's core program.
Modest minimum system requirements are:
- Windows XP (SP3) compatible operating system - in this case mail me at [email protected] for me to provide another way to install, since MSI package in Windows XP is big trouble.
- .Net Framework 4 <-> 4.8 (just to plot charts, the new option. Thanks to Microsoft, the chart control only exists in .Net 4).
- 4MB disk free space (less than your high-res photo on desktop wallpaper)
- 12MB free RAM (even the first iPhone has it)
- [UPDATE] I am proud to announce that CEA-INPE IS compatible even with the non-Windows operating system: ReactOS. It's an unimaginable programming breakthrough for me!
Just install the package downloaded (virus-free! If your antivirus says it has, it's lying) and run with the shortcut created in Start Menu, or on Desktop. Happy calculations!
- 0.1 to 1.0 - making (and remaking) the user interface
- 1.1 to 1.2 - creating all field constraints to avoid any misplaced comma
- 1.3 - created first-ever installer
- 1.4 - created first-ever help file
- 1.5 - first public version
- 1.6 - help file adjusted
- 1.65 - forgot to update screenshots (damn!)
- 1.8 - typo revision
- 1.9 - second public version
- 1.99 - damn misplaced letters - checked all interface again!
- 2.0 - bug hunting
- 2.01 to 2.02 - bug smashing
- 2.03 to 2.13 - redesigned user-reactant window, with new constraints
- 2.14 - treats "," like "." to make calculations right
- 2.15 - first REALLY public version (forget all the past! Version history is merely informative) (The Three Stooges (Only, Omit and Insert tabs) still not working properly. Sorry.)
- 2.16 - I hope it doesn't exist anytime soon...
- 2.4 - jumped minor versions because a new milestone achieved! New window plot the items selected in "Other -> Output" tab. And it has a new splash screen too!
- 2.4.5 - fixed another bug that caused splash screen freeze on top of main window. Almost lost the plot window code during bug hunting thanks to mess by Visual Studio. Lost 2 entire weeks trying to find and crush the bug and recover plot funcionality. Now, back to improvements!