Intro
This was part of an extra credit problem for my Spacecraft Flight Dynamics class. The prompt was to pick an interplanetary spacecraft and simulate its orbit using MATLAB and then visualize the results. I had fun with the problem, so I figured I would share some of the results.
Work
After choosing to simulate Voyager 1’s trajectory out of the solar system, I
opted for the patched conics approach and divided the trajectory intermediate
stages, including each of the spacecraft’s planetary flybys and its sun-centered
cruises. For each of the stages, I gathered initial values from
NASA JPL’s HORIZONS tool. I supplied
the two body equation with these inital values and simulated each stage using
MATLAB’s ode45 function. The slideshow shows the final result of the
simulations. Some of the graphs may be hard to see, so feel free to click on any
one to get a larger, higher-definition image.
