chrisarridge / chrisarridge/Ikuchi

Elliptical satellite orbits and more accurate ephemeris using WebGeoCalc REST API

Open
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enhancement
Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
7
Forks
2
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

Satellite orbits are currently circular and not inclined but of course in reality are elliptical and inclined. We could implement this by fully solving for the position of a Keplerian orbit but this would need a set of Keplerian orbital elements and their evolution in time. Alternatively we could correctly calculate the orbits and orientation/position of the planets using accurate ephemeris from the [WebGeoCalc REST API](https://wgc2.jpl.nasa.gov:8443/webgeocalc/documents/api-info.html). Each time the planet or time changes we would obtain the states of the current planet and satellites using WebGeoCalc, turn the orbits into Keplerian orbital elements and then continue as normal. If the visualisation is running very fast then we should regularly update the orbital elements.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Read the WebGeoCalc REST API documentation linked in the issue and establish how planet and time changes map to state requests. Compare the returned states with the existing orbital visualisation; done means satellite orbits support elliptical and inclined paths, with orbital elements refreshed when the simulation runs quickly.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
api, computer-graphics
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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