RendezvousWithVesta Accurately simulation for the dynamics of a spacecraft orbiting the asteroid Vesta
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asteroid spacecraft simulator asteroid simulation spacecraft orbit spacecraft orbit

RendezvousWithVesta Description

Accurately simulation for the dynamics of a spacecraft orbiting the asteroid Vesta RendezvousWithVesta is a graphical software tool developed by Pasquale Tricarico at the Planetary Science Institute, in support to the NASA DAWN mission. The motivations for developing this tool are the understandment of how the physical parameters of Vesta affect the stability of low polar orbits.RendezvousWithVesta provides a fast and reliable tool for the generation of orbits suitable for input in the Science Opportunity Analyzer (SOA) tool.The output files generated are:a SPICE SPK kernel describing the orbit of DAWN around Vesta and a formatted ASCII data file containing information about DAWN's orbit, phase angle, and equatorial coordinates with respect to Vesta. Here are some key features of "RendezvousWithVesta": · validated numerical algorithms, tested on NEAR mission data, and capable of accurately reproducing NEAR's orbit around Eros; · complete control over Vesta's physical properties: mass, mass distribution model, shape model, rotation period, and pole ecliptic latitude and longitude; · control over DAWN's initial orbit around Vesta: epoch, radius, equatorial (Vesta's equator) inclination, phase angle; · export simulations as SPICE kernel files and as ASCII data files; · 3D graphical visualization of the numerical simulation, including the ground tracking of DAWN over Vesta's surface; · 2D plot of the altitude of the spacecraft and of the Vesta profile at nadir; · completely open source and part of the ORSA framework; · support for all major platforms: Linux, Mac OS X, Windows.

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