halorbits

This Python project implements interactive 3D visualizations of:

• The proposed Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit for the Lunar Gateway.
• As-flown trajectory of the Genesis probe
• Planned trajectory of the Lucy probe
• Planned trajectory of the JUICE probe
• As-flown trajectory of the James Webb Space Telescope
• As-flown trajectory of the Voyagers

3D pan/tilt/zoom is supported via Plotly.

Preview:

Interactive versions:

• Lunar Gateway (This works best in a desktop browser, in a maximized window, on a 16:9 monitor.)
• Genesis probe
• Lucy probe
• Juice probe:
  • Cruise phase
  • Jupiter phase
  • Ganymede phase
• James Webb Space Telescope
• The Voyagers

Local dev notes

SPICE kernels that fit within Github's 100M size limit have been committed. Others will have to be downloaded from NASA or ESA.

Steps to use the scripts:

1. Install dependencies (preferably in a virtual environment):

pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Run the script (plot will open in browser):

python <script>.py

To write static HTML and, for the Lunar Gateway, the PNG preview (requires kaleido):

python <script>.py --static