SPICE for PRo3D and dotnet

This repository provides a library to work with SPICE platform-indepentently in dotnet by wrapping the native PRo3D-Extensions library written in C++. Moreover, this repository contains:

• the library accessible as a nuget package,
• as well as a sample applications which allows to experiment with SPICE and interactive visualizations.

PRo3D uses the library in a more sophisticated way for space-missions. However, just like PRo3D, the visualization component is also written using the aardvark-platform and shows how to deal with large coordinates and different coordinate frames in graphics applications.

Getting spice kernels for testing

Get spice kernels for example from here: https://s2e2.cosmos.esa.int/bitbucket/scm/spice_kernels/hera.git. The tests per default try to load kernels from this local path ./spice_kernels/hera/kernels/mk/hera_crema_2_0_LPO_ECP_PDP.tm.

mkdir spice_kernels
git clone https://s2e2.cosmos.esa.int/bitbucket/scm/spice_kernels/hera.git spice_kernels

or use pull the submodule.

Building & Running the tests

dotnet tool restore
dotnet paket restore
./build.sh or .\build.cmd
dotnet run --project src/PRo3D.SPICE.Tests/PRo3D.SPICE.Tests.fsproj

[17:16:20 INF] EXPECTO! 6 tests run in 00:00:00.2391825 for init - 6 passed, 0 ignored, 0 failed, 0 errored. Success! <Expecto>

Running the simple rendering demo

dotnet run --project src/PRo3D.SPICE.RenderingDemo/PRo3D.SPICE.RenderingDemo.fsproj

Command line flags

The project `PRo3D.SPICe.RenderingDemo" supports several command line utilities.

cd ./bin/Debug/net6.0/
dotnet PRo3D.SPICE.RenderingDemo.dll --time 2025-03-10 19:08:12.60 --timefactor 17856.0 --speed 100000000.0 --observer mars --referenceframe ECLIPJ2000

Another command-line setup could be:

dotnet PRo3D.SPICE.RenderingDemo.dll --time 2025-03-10 19:08:12.60 --timefactor 37856.0 --speed 100000000.0 --observer phobos --referenceframe ECLIPJ2000 --spiceKernel "../../../spice_kernels/kernels/mk/hera_crema_2_0_LPO_ECP_PDP.tm"

Note that a custom path to a spice kernel was supplied.

By setting observer to HERA one can investigate the fly-by and animate the camera:

Integration in PRo3D

By using PRo3D's rendering real surface data can be rendered together with the simple body representation used in the example:

or impressive fly-by scenarios:

Credits

The native PRo3D extensions library is provided by Daniel Kup @ JR.

The SPICE system software, the SPICE server and some SPICE-based tools are provided by NAIF. Other SPICE-based tools are provided by various groups/persons around the world.

References

• Acton, C.H.; "Ancillary Data Services of NASA's Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility;" Planetary and Space Science, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 65-70, 1996. DOI 10.1016/0032-0633(95)00107-7
• Charles Acton, Nathaniel Bachman, Boris Semenov, Edward Wright; A look toward the future in the handling of space science mission geometry; Planetary and Space Science (2017); DOI 10.1016/j.pss.2017.02.013