Trajectory Simulation

[bsagan]

I am in the middle of designing some trajectories to Kuiper Belt Objects and want to simulate them using Celestia. Ideally I would like to create a script that follows the spacecraft through its trajectory. My trajectories are designed much like the New Horizons mission, they use a Jupiter gravity assist and would use a spacecraft similiar to theirs. I am new to writing scripts and would like to know what steps I should take in accomplishing this. Where should I go to get the appropriate add-ons, say for the New Horizons spacecraft and developing the code? I have the ephemerides for each trajectory and can add the xyz data points. I have seen scripts that simulate NASA missions like Cassini and the Voyager and Pioneer missions and would very much like to do the same for my trajectories. Any help you can provide me would be greatly appreciated!

-Brent

[Fenerit]

Not sure about your full goals - and I'm not the "man" for xyzv trajectories - but for tracking your spacecraft, must be pressed the key "T"; whistl for chase it, the key """.

[selden]

As Fenerit wrote, a lot depends on your goal. If all you want to do is have a viewpoint follow a spacecraft, then you only have to create a SSC catalog which defines the spacecraft and its xyz trajectory. You then can use keyboard or menu commands to set Celestia's date to the start of the flight and Follow the spacecraft, perhaps accelerating time to make it happen quickly.

A Cel script can be used to automate calling functions which do the same as the keyboard commands. CelX scripts can cause the viewpoint and the spacecraft to do more sophisticated things.

[bsagan]

Thanks, an aspiration would be recreating a script like the Cassini Mission that can be downloaded from the Celestia Motherlode cite:

http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catal ... don_id=644

So what I think I need to do is create a CelX script, any advice on doing this?

Thanks again,
Brent

[Fenerit]

You should to dig into the script section of the forum for an encompassing view about the scripts are developed and which solutions are adopted to fit the needs. For trajectories, here: http://www.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6377 is the topic concerning Toti's xyz trajectories creator script; and here: http://www.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16165 is the topic concerning Jogad's automatic celx scripter, that is, a script makers of scripts. Finally, the Wiki's page about celx scripting: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Celestia#Scripting. Maybe they are for you.

[bsagan]

Thank you Fenerit! I appreciate the help, I will look into those links and let you know how it goes!

Brent