Troubleshooting Spacecraft Entering into the Reference Ellipsoid

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Sam Coco 661d5317c83bd
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Apr 15, 2024 4:17 pm
Troubleshooting Spacecraft Entering into the Reference Ellipsoid

Post by 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;