Open Space Toolkit ▸ Astrodynamics

Orbit, attitude, access.

Getting Started

Want to get started? This is the simplest and quickest way:

Nothing to download or install! This will automatically start a JupyterLab environment in your browser with Open Space Toolkit libraries and example notebooks ready to use.

Alternatives

Docker Images

Docker must be installed on your system.

iPython

The following command will start an iPython shell within a container where the OSTk components are already installed:

docker run -it openspacecollective/open-space-toolkit-astrodynamics-python

Once the shell is up and running, playing with it is easy:

from ostk.physics import Environment
from ostk.physics.time import Instant
from ostk.astrodynamics.trajectory import Orbit
from ostk.astrodynamics.trajectory.orbit.models import SGP4
from ostk.astrodynamics.trajectory.orbit.models.sgp4 import TLE

tle = TLE(
    '1 25544U 98067A   18231.17878740  .00000187  00000-0  10196-4 0  9994',
    '2 25544  51.6447  64.7824 0005971  73.1467  36.4366 15.53848234128316'
)  # Construct Two-Line Element set

earth = Environment.default().access_celestial_object_with_name('Earth')  # Access Earth model

orbit = Orbit(SGP4(tle), earth)  # Construct orbit using SGP4 model

orbit.get_state_at(Instant.now())  # Compute and display current satellite state (position, velocity)

By default, OSTk fetches the ephemeris from JPL, Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) and leap second count from IERS.

As a result, when running OSTk for the first time, it may take a minute to fetch all the necessary data.

Tip: Use tab for auto-completion!

JupyterLab

The following command will start a JupyterLab server within a container where the OSTk components are already installed:

docker run --publish=8888:8888 openspacecollective/open-space-toolkit-astrodynamics-jupyter

Once the container is running, access http://localhost:8888/lab and create a Python 3 Notebook.

Installation

C++

The binary packages are hosted using GitHub Releases:

• Runtime libraries: open-space-toolkit-astrodynamics-X.Y.Z-1.x86_64-runtime
• C++ headers: open-space-toolkit-astrodynamics-X.Y.Z-1.x86_64-devel
• Python bindings: open-space-toolkit-astrodynamics-X.Y.Z-1.x86_64-python

Debian / Ubuntu

After downloading the relevant .deb binary packages, install:

apt install open-space-toolkit-astrodynamics-*.deb

Fedora / CentOS

After downloading the relevant .rpm binary packages, install:

dnf install open-space-toolkit-astrodynamics-*.rpm

Python

Install from PyPI:

pip install open-space-toolkit-astrodynamics

Documentation

Documentation is available here:

• C++
• Python

Structure

The library exhibits the following detailed and descriptive structure:

├── NumericalSolver
├── Trajectory
│   ├── State
│   ├── Orbit
│   │   ├── Models
│   │   │   ├── Kepler
│   │   │   │   └── Classical Orbital Elements (COE)
│   │   │   ├── SGP4
│   │   │   │   └── Two-Line Element set (TLE)
│   │   │   ├── Tabulated (input csv)
│   │   │   └── Propagated (numerical integration)
│   │   ├── Pass
|   |   └── Messages
|   |       └── SpaceX
|   |           └── OPM
│   ├── Models
│   |   ├── Static
│   |   └── Tabulated
│   └── Propagator
├── Flight
│   ├── Profile
|   |    ├── Models
│   |    |   ├── Transform
│   |    |   └── Tabulated
│   |    └── State
│   └── System
|        ├── SatelliteSystem
|        └── Dynamics
|            └── SatelliteDynamics
├── Access
|   └── Generator
└── Conjunction
    └── Messages
        └── CCSDS
            └── CDM

Tutorials

Tutorials are available here:

• C++
• Python

Setup

Development Environment

Using Docker for development is recommended, to simplify the installation of the necessary build tools and dependencies. Instructions on how to install Docker are available here.

To start the development environment:

make start-development

This will:

1. Build the openspacecollective/open-space-toolkit-astrodynamics-development Docker image.
2. Create a development environment container with local source files and helper scripts mounted.
3. Start a bash shell from the ./build working directory.

If installing Docker is not an option, you can manually install the development tools (GCC, CMake) and all required dependencies, by following a procedure similar to the one described in the Development Dockerfile.

Build

From the ./build directory:

cmake ..
make

Tip: helpers/build.sh simplifies building from within the development environment.

Test

To start a container to build and run the tests:

make test

Or to run them manually:

./bin/open-space-toolkit-astrodynamics.test

Tip: helpers/test.sh simplifies running tests from within the development environment.

Dependencies

Name	Version	License	Link
Pybind11	2.10.1	BSD-3-Clause	github.com/pybind/pybind11
ordered-map	0.6.0	MIT	github.com/Tessil/ordered-map
Eigen	3.3.7	MPL2	eigen.tuxfamily.org
SGP4	6a448b4	Apache License 2.0	github.com/dnwrnr/sgp4
NLopt	2.5.0	LGPL	github.com/stevengj/nlopt
Core	main	Apache License 2.0	github.com/open-space-collective/open-space-toolkit-core
I/O	main	Apache License 2.0	github.com/open-space-collective/open-space-toolkit-io
Mathematics	main	Apache License 2.0	github.com/open-space-collective/open-space-toolkit-mathematics
Physics	main	Apache License 2.0	github.com/open-space-collective/open-space-toolkit-physics

Contribution

Contributions are more than welcome!

Please read our contributing guide to learn about our development process, how to propose fixes and improvements, and how to build and test the code.

Special Thanks

License

Apache License 2.0