Central Bodies and Interplanetary Missions

Adding central bodies (CBs) to a SOLIS simulation allows the spacecraft to orbit or interact with some of the major bodies in the solar system. You can operate SOLIS using any central body within STK with full accuracy to that body.

When considering pointing to objects outside of the central body, there are some error sources that come into play given the underlying two-body algorithms. For example, pointing from Mars to Earth is relatively accurate given that these orbital mechanics can be reasonably approximated as a pair of two-body systems. Whereas, pointing between the Moon and the Earth has slightly larger pointing errors as the Moon's orbit is highly influenced by both the Earth and the Sun.

Mars Demo

Supported Central Body tree

Sun (Always Available)
⤷ Earth (Always Available)
⤷ Moon
⤷ Mars
⤷ Phobos
⤷ Jupiter

If a CB is configured as part of the Central Body tree, you can operate SOLIS while in orbit of that CB while pointing your spacecraft at any other CB in the tree.

Operating SOLIS in orbit around other bodies outside of the tree will limit you to pointing only relative to that central body.

Adding central bodies to a scenario

By default, SOLIS will always include the Sun and Earth. If the central body of a given scenario (defined when creating an STK scenario) is part of the supported tree, SOLIS will automatically include that CB as well. You can include extra supported CBs in the SOLIS dropdown menus by creating a Planetary Object in the STK Object Browser.

If you require additional Central Bodies for your particular application and need assistance in doing so, please contact Support (https://max.rocketlabusa.com/support).