What's in a TLE? - poliastro/poliastro GitHub Wiki
- Attractor = Earth
- With specific gravitational parameter and harmonics, which might differ from the most recent ones
- Propagator = SGP4
- Models the effect of Earth's shape and atmospheric drag
- We ignore deep-space satellites here
- Frame = TEME
- Epoch
- Brouwer mean elements (n, e, i, Ω, ω, M)
- Parameters for perturbation forces: (n' aka BC, n'', B*)
- Metadata (catalog number, international designators, element set number, revolution number at epoch)
Current state of propagators
At the moment, all propagators in poliastro.twobody.propagation
have this signature:
def propagator(k, r, v, tofs, rtol, **kwargs):
...
There are already proposals (#921, #922) to change this interface and introduce lower level layers.
Resources
- Two-line element set Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-line_element_set?oldformat=true
- CelesTrak FAQ on TLE https://celestrak.com/columns/v04n03/
- Definition of Two-line Element Set Coordinate System https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/SSapplications/Post/JavaSSOP/SSOP_Help/tle_def.html
- A New Way to Obtain GP Data (aka TLEs) https://celestrak.com/NORAD/documentation/gp-data-formats.php