Troubleshooting Spacecraft Entering into the Reference Ellipsoid

[Sam Coco 661d5317c83bd]

The error shown below typically suggests the Spacecraft has impacted the central body. Once the propagation gets to the point that the Spacecraft hits/crosses the 'reference ellipsoid' (surface of Earth), FreeFlyer will throw an error. This could mean that your orbit is low enough that it is quickly decaying. A good way to verify this is to report Spacecraft.Height or create a 3D View to visualize the orbit. Below are also a few code snippets that you can use to troubleshoot your Mission Plan.

Error Message: The gravitational force could not be evaluated. The Spacecraft has entered the reference ellipsoid defined in the potential field file.

Code: Select all

Report Spacecraft1.Height;
Plot Spacecraft1.ElapsedTime, Spacecraft1.Height;