Marijn
Active member
I am working on an application to create scenario files. One of the features I like to implemend is to have the orbital elements of the ISS updated on the fly with the most recent data and include this data in the scenatio files.
So I am learning about TLE data sets now. This material is new to me and I am quite confused by all these numbers. I am trying to figure out how to select the correct data on the web and how to process this data so it can be used in Orbiter.
If I am not mistaken, Orbiter offers two formats to define an orbit. A list of orbital elements and state vectors. The manual states that the ELEMENTS parameter in the ship entries is an alternative to RPOS and RVEL.
My first question is: Why two formats? In what situation will you choose either one? I thought state vectors are to be used for atmospheric conditions, but now I am not sure. It seems state vectors are preferred because I've actually never seen an ELEMENTS list in an Orbiter scenario. But why?
Are TLE data sets ready to be put into Orbiter's ELEMENTS list? Inclination and eccentricity obviously are, but it's not clear to me if that is true for the other params. The description of TLE on Wikipedia and the parameter names in the Orbiter manual are quite different. If these are indeed compaitble, why would anyone bother to convert them to state vectors? If not, why does Orbiter use a different format and how can these values be converted from TLE to Orbiter then?
I am breaking my head over this. Any help is greatly appreciated.
So I am learning about TLE data sets now. This material is new to me and I am quite confused by all these numbers. I am trying to figure out how to select the correct data on the web and how to process this data so it can be used in Orbiter.
If I am not mistaken, Orbiter offers two formats to define an orbit. A list of orbital elements and state vectors. The manual states that the ELEMENTS parameter in the ship entries is an alternative to RPOS and RVEL.
My first question is: Why two formats? In what situation will you choose either one? I thought state vectors are to be used for atmospheric conditions, but now I am not sure. It seems state vectors are preferred because I've actually never seen an ELEMENTS list in an Orbiter scenario. But why?
Are TLE data sets ready to be put into Orbiter's ELEMENTS list? Inclination and eccentricity obviously are, but it's not clear to me if that is true for the other params. The description of TLE on Wikipedia and the parameter names in the Orbiter manual are quite different. If these are indeed compaitble, why would anyone bother to convert them to state vectors? If not, why does Orbiter use a different format and how can these values be converted from TLE to Orbiter then?
I am breaking my head over this. Any help is greatly appreciated.