Hi all,
The last release of Orekit was version 6.0, published on 2013-04-23,
seven months ago. A lot of work has been done since then and we should
think about releasing a new version.
What is already available in the git repository and has been added since
6.0 is:
- added solid tides force model, including pole tide at user choice,
and following either IERS 1996, IERS 2003 or IERS 2010 conventions
- added ocean tides force model, including pole tide at user choice,
loading a user provided model
- added simultaneous support for IERS 1996, 2003 and 2010, which is
very important to support legacy systems and to convert coordinates
between older and newer reference systems
- greatly improved accuracy of celestial/terrestrial frames transforms.
We are now at sub-micro arcsecond level for IERS 2003/2010, both with
equinox based and Non-Rotating Origin, at a sub-milli arcseconds
for IERS 1996, both with equinox based and Non-Rotating Origin
- classical equinox-based paradigm and new non-rotating origin
paradigm for inertial and terrestrial frames are now supported with
all IERS conventions. This means it is now possible to use
MOD/TOD/GTOD with the recent precession/nutation models from recent
conventions, and it is also possible to use CIRF/TIRF/ITRF with the
older precession nutation models from ancient conventions. Of
course, all these conventions and frames can be used at the same
time.
- added automatic conversion of IERS Earth Orientation Paramters from
equinoxial to non-rotating paradigm
- added support for CCSDS Orbit Data Message
- new factory methods for several Julian and Besselian epochs
- improvement of Poisson series efficiency
- a few fixes have been added in DSST mean parameters propagation,
which is now undergoing a thorough validation process,
- added an improved API for events, allowing separation of event
detection and event handling (the older API is still available for
compatibility)
- merged all the elevation related events, allowing to use both
refraction model and antenna mask at the same time if desired
- added an attitude mode based on interpolation on a table
- various bug fixes (110, 131, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 145,
148, 149, 150, 151, 152)
The next big improvement will be adding short periodic terms for DSST. A
project is ongoing for this with a target release in late 2014.
The changes already available introduce some incompatibilities, but they
are not considered to be major ones, as they mainly affect classes not
expected to be directly used by end users (typically in the internal
handling of Poisson series and predefined frames). So we propose that
despite these changes the next release will be considered a minor one in
the 6.X series and will therefore be numbered 6.1. We have of course
tried to retain compatibility as much as possible and have introduced
temporary features to help user have a smoother transition.
The Orekit Project Management Committee accepted this status for the 6.1
release, so the current version is considered to be feature complete. We
may add a few improvements in DSST if they become ready before the release.
As usual before a release, I would like to ask if some native speakers
would help us translate the error messages. For the half-dozen languages
already supported by Orekit, we have introduced about 10 new messages
that would need translation. Help is welcome to update these messages.
If native speakers for currently not-supported languages would like to
add their language, it would be great too and help is wanted for this
topic too. It is possible to start progressively: if only a few messages
are translated and others are not, Orket will still work, simply
displaying an English message when the translation is missing. The
system we use also supports any unicode characters, so there are no
restriction on the type of language we can add.
I would also like to ask everyone to give a try to the current version
and notifies us of any error they may encounter.
Our target date for the release is around mid-December.
best regards,
Luc
10440 Little Patuxent Parkway, Suite 600
Columbia, MD 21044
(410) 715-0005 Office
(410) 715-0008 Fax
(301) 525-6219 Mobile