kepler-state-vector

Prints the state vector of the Kepler spacecraft using SpiceyPy (SPICE).

A little tool intended to demonstrate the use of SPICE, through the SpiceyPy Python wrapper, to print the state vector of the Kepler spacecraft.

Example use

$ python kepler-state-vector.py "2016-01-12T22:35:07.584"

Output:

Input time = 2016-01-12T22:35:07.584

# Position of Kepler in the geocentric J2000 frame
X = 0.80754723 AU
Y = -0.03077504 AU
Z = -0.02164734 AU

# Velocity of Kepler in the geocentric J2000 frame
dX = 0.00000000 AU/s
dY = 0.00000015 AU/s
dZ = 0.00000007 AU/s

# Orbital speed [sqrt(dX^2 + dY^2 + dZ^2)]
Speed = 0.00000016 AU/s

Installation

SpiceyPy must be installed. For example:

$ conda install -c https://conda.anaconda.org/andrewannex spiceypy

Then simply download or clone this repository and run the Python script, e.g.

$ git clone git@github.com:barentsen/kepler-state-vector.git
$ cd kepler-state-vector
$ python kepler-state-vector.py 2015-11-13T09:43:00