HORIZONS Fix for the Galilean Satellites, 1995-2035

[DaveBowman2001]

The four major moons of Jupiter

This is an update and replacement of the addon I've made alongside the first version of the JUICE addon here. This serves as an orbital patch for the four major moons of Jupiter to optimize the flybys of every orbiter mission, which should eliminate any random collisions on the moons and sometimes too distant-ish encounters.

The significant improvement of this version compared to the older one is that the XYZV files will only cover specific time periods where these errant flybys occur and no longer a straight 40-year-long files for each moon, thereby decreasing disk space consumption. For more details about the encounters, you can download the accompanying Excel File below. Take note that the RED tabs represent the times that the HORIZONS trajectories for each moon are running

DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION HERE, 2024-08-31

Spoiler

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Download this addon IF AND ONLY IF you have the Galileo, Juno, Europa Clipper, and JUICE missions installed on your Celestia
- The first version of this addon (221115) mostly fixes the incidental collisions introduced by VSOP87 orbits of the moons (See the additional posts below)
- This addon does not intend to replace Art Blos's XYZV files of the moons that are included in Celestia Origin

[DaveBowman2001]

The following four posts below details the dates, moons, and closest distances each spacecraft mission makes during their encounters. This is from the Excel file posted above for those who can't open it. Take note that this may or may not 100% reflect the actual events that and will happen during those 40 years of Jovian system exploration

Events colored in GREEN (date), RED (moon), and YELLOW (km) indicate that a collision/too distant encounter has occurred due to limitations of their respective default VSOP87 generated orbits, which are subsequently patched by the HORIZONS data linked above

[DaveBowman2001]

1995
- 1995-12-07 = Europa = 32,913 km
- 1995-12-07 = Io = 1,108 km

1996
- 1996-06-27 = Ganymede = 1,401 km
- 1996-09-06 = Ganymede = 371 km
- 1996-11-04 = Callisto = 1,517 km
- 1996-11-06 = Europa = 34,474 km
- 1996-12-19 = Europa = 862 km

1997
- 1997-01-20 = Europa = 26,516 km
- 1997-02-20 = Europa = 130 km
- 1997-04-04 = Europa = 23,917 km
- 1997-04-05 = Ganymede = 3,191 km
- 1997-05-06 = Callisto = 33,291 km
- 1997-05-07 = Ganymede = 1,259 km
- 1997-06-25 = Callisto = 179 km
- 1997-09-17 = Callisto = 552 km
- 1997-11-06 = Europa = 2,294 km
- 1997-12-15 = Ganymede = 14,462 km
- 1997-12-16 = Europa = 71 km

1998
- 1998-02-10 = Europa = 3,961 km
- 1998-03-29 = Europa = 1,455 km
- 1998-05-31 = Europa = 2,836 km
- 1998-07-21 = Europa = 1,829 km
- 1998-09-26 = Europa = 3,669 km
- 1998-11-22 = Europa = 2,451 km

1999
- 1999-02-01 = Europa = 1,315 km
- 1999-05-05 = Callisto = 819 km
- 1999-06-30 = Callisto = 253 km
- 1999-08-14 = Callisto = 1,740 km
- 1999-09-16 = Callisto = 494 km
- 1999-10-11 = Io = 781 km
- 1999-11-25 = Europa = 8,365 km
- 1999-11-26 = Io = 204 km

2000
- 2000-01-03 = Europa = 864 km
- 2000-02-22 = Io = 315 km
- 2000-05-20 = Ganymede = 1,225 km
- 2001-12-28 = Ganymede = 1,998 km

2001
- 2001-05-25 = Callisto = 126 km
- 2001-08-06 = Io = 207 km
- 2001-10-16 = Io = 227 km

2002
- 2002-01-17 = Io = 118 km
- 2002-11-05 = Io = 45,928 km
- 2002-11-05 = Amalthea = 537 km

[DaveBowman2001]

2021
- 2021-06-07 = Ganymede = 1,034 km

2022
- 2022-09-30 = Europa = 403 km

2023
- 2023-12-30 = Io = 976 km

2024
- 2024-02-03 = Io = 635 km

[DaveBowman2001]

2030
- 2030-04-10 = Ganymede = 2,849 km
- 2030-10-30 = Ganymede = 4,056 km

2031
- 2031-01-02 = Ganymede = 3,398 km
- 2031-02-07 = Ganymede = 251 km
- 2031-03-07 = Europa = 1,138 km
- 2031-03-27 = Europa = 1,000 km
- 2031-04-13 = Ganymede = 11,823 km
- 2031-05-01 = Ganymede = 12,673 km
- 2031-05-27 = Europa = 290 km
- 2031-06-17 = Europa = 1,694 km
- 2031-07-06 = Callisto = 82,068 km
- 2031-07-09 = Europa = 1,572 km
- 2031-07-30 = Europa = 1,432 km
- 2031-08-20 = Europa = 1,262 km
- 2031-09-11 = Europa = 904 km
- 2031-10-02 = Europa = 571 km
- 2031-10-23 = Europa = 1,094 km
- 2031-11-14 = Europa = 1,220 km
- 2031-12-05 = Europa = 1,460 km

2032
- 2032-01-20 = Europa = 454 km
- 2032-02-11 = Europa = 759 km
- 2032-03-03 = Europa = 552 km
- 2032-03-24 = Europa = 186 km
- 2032-04-11 = Europa = 23 km
- 2032-04-25 = Europa = 74 km
- 2032-05-13 = Europa = 23 km
- 2032-05-28 = Europa = 89 km
- 2032-06-14 = Europa = 35 km
- 2032-06-29 = Europa = 58 km
- 2032-07-16 = Europa = 15 km
- 2032-08-18 = Europa = 3 km
- 2032-09-01 = Europa = 2,645 km
- 2032-09-29 = Callisto = 1,288 km
- 2032-10-28 = Ganymede = 2,726 km
- 2032-11-06 = Callisto = 186 km
- 2032-11-23 = Callisto = 4,667 km
- 2032-12-19 = Callisto = 613 km

2033
- 2033-01-09 = Callisto = 1,464 km
- 2033-02-21 = Callisto = 10,084 km
- 2033-03-10 = Callisto = 3,086 km
- 2033-04-04 = Ganymede = 9,909 km
- 2033-04-29 = Callisto = 595 km
- 2033-05-15 = Callisto = 3,690 km
- 2033-05-27 = Europa = 1,749 km
- 2033-06-14 = Europa = 422 km
- 2033-06-28 = Europa = 2,038 km
- 2033-07-16 = Europa = 358 km
- 2033-07-30 = Europa = 1,334 km
- 2033-08-13 = Europa = 1,158 km
- 2033-08-27 = Europa = 1,205 km
- 2033-09-10 = Europa = 1,340 km
- 2033-09-25 = Europa = 1,495 km
- 2033-10-09 = Europa = 1,673 km
- 2033-10-23 = Europa = 1,859 km
- 2033-11-06 = Europa = 1,968 km
- 2033-11-20 = Europa = 1,106 km
- 2033-12-15 = Europa = 1,620 km

2034
- 2034-01-09 = Europa = 1,734 km
- 2034-01-23 = Europa = 970 km
- 2034-02-06 = Europa = 637 km
- 2034-03-03 = Europa = 1,765 km
- 2034-03-28 = Europa = 2,165 km
- 2034-04-11 = Europa = 1,283 km
- 2034-04-25 = Europa = 1,289 km
- 2034-05-09 = Europa = 1,399 km
- 2034-05-24 = Europa = 1,376 km
- 2034-06-07 = Europa = 1,259 km
- 2034-06-21 = Europa = 1,026 km
- 2034-07-05 = Europa = 802 km
- 2034-07-20 = Europa = 359 km
- 2034-09-03 = Ganymede = 0 km
(Intentionally crashed at End of Mission)

[DaveBowman2001]

2031
- 2031-07-21 = Ganymede = 2,318 km

2032
- 2032-02-13 = Ganymede = 3,283 km
- 2032-04-11 = Ganymede = 436 km
- 2032-05-09 = Ganymede = 5,628 km
- 2032-06-02 = Ganymede = 2,361 km
- 2032-06-21 = Callisto = 5,865 km
- 2032-07-02 = Europa = 386 km
- 2032-07-16 = Europa = 355 km
- 2032-07-29 = Callisto = 4,435 km
- 2032-08-14 = Callisto = 1,097 km
- 2032-09-10 = Callisto = 198 km
- 2032-09-27 = Callisto = 200 km
- 2032-10-14 = Callisto = 201 km
- 2032-10-30 = Callisto = 190 km
- 2032-11-16 = Callisto = 133 km
- 2032-12-03 = Callisto = 1,208 km

2033
- 2033-02-24 = Callisto = 2,062 km
- 2033-03-13 = Callisto = 1,163 km
- 2033-05-10 = Callisto = 270 km
- 2033-06-04 = Callisto = 162 km
- 2033-06-21 = Callisto = 201 km
- 2033-07-08 = Callisto = 192 km
- 2033-07-24 = Callisto = 131 km
- 2033-08-10 = Callisto = 127 km
- 2033-11-01 = Callisto = 316 km
- 2033-11-27 = Ganymede = 1,727 km

2034
- 2034-01-14 = Ganymede = 731 km
- 2034-02-14 = Callisto = 626 km
- 2034-05-01 = Callisto = 7,669 km
- 2034-06-06 = Ganymede = 3,348 km
- 2034-06-24 = Callisto = 5,770 km
- 2034-09-08 = Ganymede = 63,765 km
- 2034-09-29 = Ganymede = 66,300 km
- 2034-11-19 = Ganymede = 31,781 km
- 2034-12-18 = Ganymede = 29,538 km
- 2034-12-20 = Ganymede = (Orbit Insertion)

[SpaceExplorer]

General XYZV update of the Galilean satellites. Until then, only incidental collisions had been corrected, but other flybys had not. Celestia's default VSOP87 makes virtually no flyby of the Jovian orbiters truly accurate, where it most often results in a flyby whose distance or relative position is incorrect.

Therefore, this update corrects all flybys of the Galilean satellites made by Galileo, Juno and JUICE. Although the trajectory also covers Europa Clipper, several flybys of Europa continue to be simulated inaccurately and eventually an incidental collision occurs. This is likely due to inconsistencies in the HORIZONS data for the Clipper orbiter. Hopefully they will publish more accurate data after its launch in October 2024.

In this update, there are XYZV trajectories for the four Galilean satellites, covering the following periods:

IO:
- Jan-1995 to Jan-2004 (Galileo)
- Apr-2022 to Oct-2025 (Juno)

EUROPA:
- Jan-1995 to Jan-2004 (Galileo)
- Oct-2021 to Oct-2022 (Juno)
- Jan-2030 to Jan-2035 (Europa Clipper and JUICE)

GANYMEDE:
- Jan-1995 to Jan-2004 (Galileo)
- Jun-2021 to Aug-2021 (Juno)
- Jan-2030 to Jan-2036 (Europa Clipper and JUICE)

CALLISTO:
- Jan-1995 to Jan-2004 (Galileo)
- Jan-2030 to Jan-2035 (Europa Clipper and JUICE)

NOTES:

- Juno made four close flybys: Ganymede (Jun-2021), Europa (Sept-2022) and Io (Dec-2023 and Feb-2024). However, there were also a series of distant flybys, 1 of Ganymede, 2 of Europa and 16 of Io. XYZV trajectories also cover them anyway.

- Ganymede's trajectory has an additional year (ends in Jan-2036), because JUICE will be operational in its orbit for at least a year (mission extensions are possible).

- Also included in this update are the VT textures (up to level 2 only) from Celestia Origin for the four Galilean satellites. They are very similar to the default textures from 1.7.0, but with slightly higher resolution. If you don't want them, just delete the "textures" folder.

[SpaceExplorer]

Below are the tables (in txt file) with updated flyby distances: