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RELEASE_NOTES_6.8.0

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TheDaniel166 edited this page Oct 15, 2026 · 3 revisions

Moira 6.8.0 - SBDB Osculating Asteroid Orbit Classification and Small Body REST Surface

Release date: 2026-09-17. Upgrade path: 6.7.0 to 6.8.0.

This release delivers official NASA JPL Small-Body Database (SBDB) osculating asteroid orbit classification, diagnostic predicate boundary margins, and full small-body admission across the FastAPI /v1/orbits/* REST surface.

SBDB-style osculating asteroid orbit classification

  • Implemented moira.orbits.orbit_class(body, jd_ut, *, reader=None) and batch helper orbit_classes_at(bodies, jd_ut, *, reader=None).
  • Classifies small bodies into all 14 official dynamical groups: IEO (Atira), ATE (Aten), APO (Apollo), AMO (Amor), MCA (Mars-crossing Asteroid), IMB (Inner Main-belt Asteroid), MBA (Main-belt Asteroid), OMB (Outer Main-belt Asteroid), TJN (Jupiter Trojan), CEN (Centaur), TNO (TransNeptunian Object), PAA (Parabolic Asteroid), HYA (Hyperbolic Asteroid), and fallback AST (Asteroid).
  • Evaluates strict inequality conditions with zero signed margins on exact boundaries.
  • Provides structured diagnostic predicate margins (OrbitClassBoundaryMargin, OrbitClassPredicate) documenting exact signed distances to qualifying cutoffs ($a$, $q$, $Q$, and Jupiter Tisserand parameter $T_J$).
  • Re-exported 9 public symbols in moira, moira.facade, and moira.predictive: OrbitClassCode, OrbitClassBoundaryMargin, OrbitClassPredicate, OrbitClassResult, OrbitalErrorReceipt, OrbitClassBatchItem, OrbitClassBatchResult, orbit_class, and orbit_classes_at.

Small bodies admission to /v1/orbits/* REST surface

  • POST /v1/orbits/elements: Admits catalog small bodies (asteroids and comets). For open conics ($e \ge 1.0$), non-applicable elliptic fields (semi_major_axis_au, aphelion_distance_au, orbital_period_days, mean_anomaly_deg, mean_motion_deg_per_day) serialize truthfully as null, while maintaining backward compatibility for elliptic orbits.
  • POST /v1/orbits/distance-extremes: Admits catalog small bodies. Unreachable passages (e.g., hyperbolic orbits without an apocenter) raise OrbitalPassageUnavailableError, mapped to HTTP 422 (orbital_event_availability).
  • POST /v1/orbits/class: Dedicated single asteroid classification endpoint returning classification code, title, description, and diagnostic boundary margins with allowlisted SPK provenance.
  • POST /v1/orbits/class/batch: Batch evaluation for up to 128 small bodies at one epoch, featuring per-item error isolation and strict local path redaction.

Verification scope

  • Unit test suite (tests/unit/test_orbit_classes.py): 45 tests verifying all 14 classes, boundary edge conditions, non-asteroid rejections, and batch errors.
  • Integration test suite (tests/integration/test_sbdb_orbit_classes.py): verified against authentic SPK kernels from receipted_small_body_reader_pool.
  • Server test suite (tests/server/test_server_orbits_routes.py): 14 tests covering transport models, small bodies, open conics, and classification endpoints.
  • Total combined orbit verification: 65 passed, 1 skipped (external network policy).

Migration

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