Orbit¶
- class Orbit¶
Describes an orbit. For example, the orbit of a vessel, obtained by calling
Vessel.orbit
, or a celestial body, obtained by callingCelestialBody.orbit
.- body¶
The celestial body (e.g. planet or moon) around which the object is orbiting.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
- apoapsis¶
Gets the apoapsis of the orbit, in meters, from the center of mass of the body being orbited.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
Note
For the apoapsis altitude reported on the in-game map view, use
Orbit.apoapsis_altitude
.
- periapsis¶
The periapsis of the orbit, in meters, from the center of mass of the body being orbited.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
Note
For the periapsis altitude reported on the in-game map view, use
Orbit.periapsis_altitude
.
- apoapsis_altitude¶
The apoapsis of the orbit, in meters, above the sea level of the body being orbited.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
Note
This is equal to
Orbit.apoapsis
minus the equatorial radius of the body.
- periapsis_altitude¶
The periapsis of the orbit, in meters, above the sea level of the body being orbited.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
Note
This is equal to
Orbit.periapsis
minus the equatorial radius of the body.
- semi_major_axis¶
The semi-major axis of the orbit, in meters.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- semi_minor_axis¶
The semi-minor axis of the orbit, in meters.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- radius¶
The current radius of the orbit, in meters. This is the distance between the center of mass of the object in orbit, and the center of mass of the body around which it is orbiting.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
Note
This value will change over time if the orbit is elliptical.
- radius_at(ut)¶
The orbital radius at the given time, in meters.
- Parameters:
ut (float) – The universal time to measure the radius at.
- Return type:
float
- position_at(ut, reference_frame)¶
The position at a given time, in the specified reference frame.
- Parameters:
ut (float) – The universal time to measure the position at.
reference_frame (ReferenceFrame) – The reference frame that the returned position vector is in.
- Returns:
The position as a vector.
- Return type:
tuple(float, float, float)
- speed¶
The current orbital speed of the object in meters per second.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
Note
This value will change over time if the orbit is elliptical.
- period¶
The orbital period, in seconds.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- time_to_apoapsis¶
The time until the object reaches apoapsis, in seconds.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- time_to_periapsis¶
The time until the object reaches periapsis, in seconds.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- eccentricity¶
The eccentricity of the orbit.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- inclination¶
The inclination of the orbit, in radians.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- longitude_of_ascending_node¶
The longitude of the ascending node, in radians.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- argument_of_periapsis¶
The argument of periapsis, in radians.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- mean_anomaly_at_epoch¶
-
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- epoch¶
The time since the epoch (the point at which the mean anomaly at epoch was measured, in seconds.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- mean_anomaly¶
The mean anomaly.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- mean_anomaly_at_ut(ut)¶
The mean anomaly at the given time.
- Parameters:
ut (float) – The universal time in seconds.
- Return type:
float
- eccentric_anomaly¶
The eccentric anomaly.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- eccentric_anomaly_at_ut(ut)¶
The eccentric anomaly at the given universal time.
- Parameters:
ut (float) – The universal time, in seconds.
- Return type:
float
- true_anomaly¶
The true anomaly.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- true_anomaly_at_ut(ut)¶
The true anomaly at the given time.
- Parameters:
ut (float) – The universal time in seconds.
- Return type:
float
- true_anomaly_at_radius(radius)¶
The true anomaly at the given orbital radius.
- Parameters:
radius (float) – The orbital radius in meters.
- Return type:
float
- ut_at_true_anomaly(true_anomaly)¶
The universal time, in seconds, corresponding to the given true anomaly.
- Parameters:
true_anomaly (float) – True anomaly.
- Return type:
float
- radius_at_true_anomaly(true_anomaly)¶
The orbital radius at the point in the orbit given by the true anomaly.
- Parameters:
true_anomaly (float) – The true anomaly.
- Return type:
float
- true_anomaly_at_an(target)¶
The true anomaly of the ascending node with the given target orbit.
- Parameters:
target (Orbit) – Target orbit.
- Return type:
float
- true_anomaly_at_dn(target)¶
The true anomaly of the descending node with the given target orbit.
- Parameters:
target (Orbit) – Target orbit.
- Return type:
float
- orbital_speed¶
The current orbital speed in meters per second.
- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- orbital_speed_at(time)¶
The orbital speed at the given time, in meters per second.
- Parameters:
time (float) – Time from now, in seconds.
- Return type:
float
- static reference_plane_normal(reference_frame)¶
The direction that is normal to the orbits reference plane, in the given reference frame. The reference plane is the plane from which the orbits inclination is measured.
- Parameters:
reference_frame (ReferenceFrame) – The reference frame that the returned direction is in.
- Returns:
The direction as a unit vector.
- Return type:
tuple(float, float, float)
- static reference_plane_direction(reference_frame)¶
The direction from which the orbits longitude of ascending node is measured, in the given reference frame.
- Parameters:
reference_frame (ReferenceFrame) – The reference frame that the returned direction is in.
- Returns:
The direction as a unit vector.
- Return type:
tuple(float, float, float)
- relative_inclination(target)¶
Relative inclination of this orbit and the target orbit, in radians.
- Parameters:
target (Orbit) – Target orbit.
- Return type:
float
- time_to_soi_change¶
The time until the object changes sphere of influence, in seconds. Returns
NaN
if the object is not going to change sphere of influence.- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
float
- next_orbit¶
If the object is going to change sphere of influence in the future, returns the new orbit after the change. Otherwise returns
None
.- Attribute:
Read-only, cannot be set
- Return type:
- time_of_closest_approach(target)¶
Estimates and returns the time at closest approach to a target orbit.
- Parameters:
target (Orbit) – Target orbit.
- Returns:
The universal time at closest approach, in seconds.
- Return type:
float
- distance_at_closest_approach(target)¶
Estimates and returns the distance at closest approach to a target orbit, in meters.
- Parameters:
target (Orbit) – Target orbit.
- Return type:
float
- list_closest_approaches(target, orbits)¶
Returns the times at closest approach and corresponding distances, to a target orbit.
- Parameters:
target (Orbit) – Target orbit.
orbits (int) – The number of future orbits to search.
- Returns:
A list of two lists. The first is a list of times at closest approach, as universal times in seconds. The second is a list of corresponding distances at closest approach, in meters.
- Return type:
list(list(float))