The Orbital and Celestial Mechanics Web Site

What’s New


 

To upgrade purchased software, simply download the zipped file again and extract the new or updated contents using the password provided with the original purchase.


 

June 21, 2010

 

MATLAB source code for a subset of the NOVAS 3.0 subroutines and functions has been added to the DOWNLOADS area of the Orbital Mechanics with MATLAB web page.  These MATLAB functions were ported from the Fortran version of the version 3.0 source code.  NOVAS 3.0 Fortran and C source code and documentation can be found at http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/software-products/novas.

 

June 19, 2010

 

MATLAB source code for a demonstration script called demo_sidtim1 along with support functions has been added to the DOWNLOADS area of the Orbital Mechanics with MATLAB web page.  This script demonstrates how to interact with a Greenwich sidereal time function based on NOVAS 3.0.  The hard-wired input for this script is taken from the sample.f source code provided with NOVAS 3.0.  Several of the support functions have been ported to MATLAB from the NOVAS 3.0 Fortran code.  Please note that this script is based on a truncated version of the IAU 2000a nutation algorithm.  NOVAS 3.0 source code and documentation can be found at http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/software-products/novas.

 

May 25, 2010

 

MATLAB source code for a demonstration script called demo_bv78 along with support functions has been added to the DOWNLOADS area of the Orbital Mechanics with MATLAB web page.  This script demonstrates how to interact with Professor L. Shampine’s numerical method for solving first-order systems of differential equations.  Additional information can be found in the document "Vectorized Solution of ODEs in MATLAB" which is available at http://faculty.smu.edu/shampine/current.html.  Instructions for using a vectorized version of the equations of motion can be found within the main script.

 

May 19, 2010

 

The executable program and a readme file for A Computer Program for Patched-Conic Trajectory Design and Optimization, BOBYQA version has been uploaded to the Interplanetary Mission Analysis section.

 

May 1, 2010

 

Several Numerit Pro executable programs (orbital elements of the Moon, Circular-Restricted Three-Body Problem, and equinoxes/solstices) have been added to the DOWNLOADS area of the Celestial Computing with Numerit Pro web page.  Please note that these executable applications require the free Numerit Run program which is available at www.numerit.com.

 

April 21, 2010

 

Several Numerit Pro executable programs (shadow conditions, hohmann transfer, rise and set, etc.) have been added to the DOWNLOADS area of the Orbital Mechanics with Numerit Pro web page.  Please note that these executable applications require the free Numerit Run program which is available at www.numerit.com.

 

April 10, 2010

 

MATLAB source code for the demo_hyper script  and support functions has been added to the DOWNLOADS area of the Orbital Mechanics with MATLAB web page.  Documentation for this script can be found starting on page 46 of the Astrodynamic Coordinates PDF document.

 

March 23, 2010

 

PDF documentation and MATLAB source code for A MATLAB Script for Optimal Single Impulse De-orbit from Earth Orbits has been added to the DOWNLOADS area of the Orbital Mechanics with MATLAB section.  Please note that this script requires the SNOPT algorithm.

 

March 14, 2010

 

The executable program and PDF documentation for Closest Approach Between Two Earth Satellites has been uploaded to the Freeware section.

 

March 10, 2010

 

The executable program and PDF documentation for Rise and Set of Earth Satellites has been uploaded to the Freeware section.

 

March 8, 2010

 

The source code and PDF documents for A MATLAB Script for Preliminary Earth-to-Mars Mission Design and A MATLAB Script for Preliminary Earth-to-Mars Interplanetary TCM Optimization have been updated in the Interplanetary Mission Analysis section.

 

February 28, 2010

 

The executable program, three example input files and documentation for A Computer Program for Converting Between True-of-Date and EME2000 Coordinates” which uses subroutines from NOVAS 3.0 has been uploaded to the Freeware section.

 

February 27, 2010

 

The executable program, An Initial Guess Generator for Lunar Mission Analysis, in the Lunar Mission Analysis section is now freeware.

 

The executable program, A Computer Program for Gravity-assist Trajectory Design and Analysis, in the Interplanetary Mission Analysis section is now freeware.

 

February 24, 2010

 

The executable program, A Computer Program for Patched-Conic Trajectory Design and Optimization, in the Interplanetary Mission Analysis section is now freeware.

 

February 21, 2010

 

The executable program, several example input files and documentation for “Partial Coverage Constellation Design and Analysis” has been uploaded to the Freeware section.

 

February 17, 2010

 

Added two technical reports in PDF format to the Technical Reports section.

 

SAO Special Report No. 223, “The Short-period Drag Perturbations of the Orbits of Artificial Satellites”, by L. Sehnal and Sara B. Mills.

 

SAO Special Report No. 234, “Note on Expressions for Second-period Short-periodic Perturbations”, by Yoshihide Kozai.

 

February 16, 2010

 

The executable program, several example input files and documentation for “Closest Approach Between the Earth and Heliocentric Objects” has been uploaded to the Freeware section.  Please note that the DE405 option has be replaced with a DE421 ephemeris option.  An input data file for the asteroid Apophis is provided.  Current simulations are predicting a close approach to the Earth of less than 40,000 kilometers on April 13, 2029.

 

November 11, 2009

 

The executable for the “Closest Approach Between a Spacecraft and Celestial Body” computer program is now available as freeware.  It can be found in the Interplanetary Mission Analysis section.

 

November 8, 2009

 

The executable for the “Closest Approach Between a Spacecraft and the Moon” computer program is now available as freeware.  It can be found in the Lunar Mission Analysis section.

 

November 6, 2009

 

The PDF document for the application, “A Matlab Script for Parametric Analysis of Minimum TLI Delta-V, Two-Body Lunar Transfer Trajectories” has been updated.  It can be found in the Lunar Mission Analysis section.  The main script and several support functions have also been updated.

 

September 3, 2009

 

Added a PDF document, “The Laplacian and Gaussian Orbit Methods” by Samuel Herrick to the Technical Reports section.

 

July 4, 2009

 

Added a Numerit program that performs a primer vector analysis of coplanar Hohmann transfers to the Orbital Mechanics with Numerit section.  A PDF document that describes this application is also included.

 

July 2, 2009

 

A link for downloading the INPOP08a binary ephemeris file has been added to the Orbital Mechanics with Matlab and the Orbital Mechanics with Fortran pages.

 

June 22, 2009

 

A new program that demonstrates phasing analysis of coplanar Hohmann transfers has been added to the maneuvers section of Orbital Mechanics with Fortran.

 

June 20, 2009

 

The following demo programs have been updated in the Orbital Mechanics with Fortran section: griseset.zip, frozen2.zip, g3body.zip and grmotion.zip.  The updates are mainly in the graphics area of each demo program.  A new program that demonstrates a primer vector analysis of coplanar Hohmann transfers has also been added to the maneuvers section of Orbital Mechanics with Fortran.

 

June 4, 2009

 

A MATLAB script that performs a phasing/rendezvous analysis between two coplanar circular orbits has been added to the Maneuvers section of the Orbital Mechanics with Matlab suite.  The PDF document for the Maneuvers software suite has been updated.

 

June 1, 2009

 

Added a graphical primer vector analysis to the lambert1 script of the Orbital Mechanics with Matlab suite.  Also added a Lambert function due to Geza Gedeon to the suite.  FreeMat versions are also available.

 

Updated A MATLAB Script for Ballistic Interplanetary Trajectory Design and Optimization to include an asteroid or comet as one of the celestial bodies.

 

May 31, 2009

 

Added a new Matlab script to the Interplanetary Mission Analysis page.  The script is a Differential Evolution version of A MATLAB Script for Ballistic Interplanetary Trajectory Design and Optimization.

 

The Optimal Orbital Transfer Analysis Matlab script has been updated to include a graphical primer vector analysis of two impulse transfer trajectories.  The PDF document has been updated.

 

May 30, 2009

 

Added a primer vector Matlab script to the Maneuvers part of the Orbital Mechanics with Matlab suite.  This script performs a graphical primer vector analysis of coplanar Hohmann transfers.  Updated the Maneuvers PDF document.  A FreeMat version of this script has been added to the Orbital Mechanics with FreeMat software suite.

 

April 20, 2009

 

Added several scripts, functions and output text files that demonstrate the use of the JPL MICE software to the Downloads section of the Orbital Mechanics with Matlab page.

 

April 19, 2009

 

Added a link for downloading the INPOP binary ephemeris file from within the Orbital Mechanics with Matlab page.

 

April 8, 2009

 

Added three PDF documents related to lunar coordinate transformations to the Lunar Mission Analysis section.

 

November 24, 2008

 

Added many new sites and companion links to the Useful Links page.  Organized the links into sections (Organizations, Software, Publications, etc.)

 

November 19, 2008

 

Added a Fortran version of Scott Campbell’s routine that converts an ECI state vector to a two line element set (TLE) to the Orbital Mechanics with Fortran software suite.  A demo program can be found in the Utility section of the web page.

 

November 10, 2008

 

Added several new sites and companion links to the Useful Links page.

 

October 24, 2008

 

Added a “HOW TO SPECIFY THE EPHEMERIS TO USE” explanation to the ephemeris.html file found in the Orbital Mechanics with Fortran website.

 

October 19, 2008

 

Fixed link to frozen2.zip on the Orbital Mechanics with Fortran page.

 

Added link to GMAT – General Mission Analysis Tool on the Useful Links page.

 

August 13, 2008

 

Added a PDF version of the Long-term Orbit Predictor (LOP) user’s manual to the technical reports area.  This is JPL Publication EM 312/86-151 dated June 30, 1986.

 

 


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