gkorgood/ph235-orbital-dynamics-sim

Final Project for Physics Simulations

Orbital Dynamics Simulation

12/22/15	Gabriel Korgood	Cooper Union

GENERAL INFORMATION

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These pieces of code simulate the movement of a spacecraft within two different
gravitational systems, one with a single parent planet, and one with two planets
of equal mass.

INSTALLATION & OPERATION

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Requires some way to open and run Python (.py) files, including the VPython and
Math libraries. Download the .zip from the project page. Open any of the three .py
files (NOTE: 3bodyRK4.py attempts to run the simulation using a fourth order
Runge-Kutta method, but is currently non-functional) in a Python IDE, and run
them normally.

FILE MANIFEST

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• ~\Ph235-Orbital-Dynamics-Sim\
  • \2bodyRK1.py\
  • \3bodyRK1.py\
  • \3bodyRK4.py\
  • \README.md\

INITIAL GOALS & CURRENT PROGRESS

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• Ascent from Earth's surface (Abandoned due to complexity of atmospheric drag)
• Circularization burn (Postponed due to complexity of rocket equation)
• Demonstration of stable Earth orbit
• Transfer burn to solar orbit (Postponed due to complexity of rocket equation)
• Transfer burn to binary system (Postponed due to complexity of rocket equation)
• Demonstration of chaotic binary orbit