General information about SPICE SP-kernels ========================================== The purpose of the SP-kernel -- which stands for S(pacecraft) and P(lanet) Kernel -- is to allow ephemerides for any collection of solar system bodies, spacecraft or any other objects in 3D space to be combined under a common file format, and accessed by a common set of subroutines. SPK can be accessed by subroutines that are part of the SPICE library, the major component of the SPICE Toolkit. These subroutines can be integrated into user application programs. For information on the SPICE Toolkit and/or how to obtain it, please consult SPICE_INST.CAT and SOFT.CAT. To use SP-kernels, a Leapseconds (LSK) is also required. To use SP-Kernels containing positions given relative to the non-inertial and project-defined frames, one or more of Frame Definitions Kernel (FK), Planetary Constants Kernel (PcK), and C-Kernel (CK) files may also be required. Refer to the SPK.REQ document provided with the Toolkit to get more information on how to access SP-kernel data. ROSETTA SPK Files ================= This file describes the contents of the DATA/SPK directory of the ROSETTA SPICE data set. The contents and time span covered by any SPK file may be easily determined using the 'brief' utility program available in all copies of the SPICE Toolkit. Examples of usage: %brief Descriptive information about how/why/when an SPK file was created is usually available in the 'comment area' of the file. This may be viewed using the 'commnt' utility program available in all copies of the SPICE Toolkit. Use the '-r' option to read the comments. Example: %commnt -r All binary SPK files (*.BSP) contained in this directory are little-endian (LTL-IEEE) binary files. ROSETTA SPK-Kernels Contained in this Data Set ============================================== The following SPK-kernels are provided in this data set: Rosetta orbiter SPKs: RORB_DV_145_01_______00216.BSP RORB_DV_223_01_______00302.BSP RORB_DV_257_02_______00344.BSP RORB_DV_145_01___T19_00216.BSP RORB_DV_223_01___T19_00302.BSP RORB_DV_257_02___T19_00344.BSP RORB_DV_257_03___T19_00345.BSP Contain Rosetta orbiter orbital phase ephemeris, based on data provided by ESOC. Please note that except for RORB_DV_257_03___T19_00345.BSP the rest of the kernels in combination with their homologue Comet Orbit files (CORB), contain discontinuities for the spacecraft and the comet orbit; they are 1 second apart in time due to a technical detail how the Rosetta Orbit Determination (OD) system works. Within this 1 sec the relative orbit between Rosetta and the comet is significantly wrong. RORB_DV_257_03___T19_00345.BSP corrects these discontinuities but the jumps t hemselves are still there. With the short data arcs applicable for OD, there was no chance to get hold on the so-called comet non-gravitational acceleration. Hence, in the short arcs comet OD these were neglected with the result that in the next arc, the comet orbit is shifted by the amount the non-gravitational acceleration have accumulated. ORHR_______________00047.BSP ORHR_______________00096.BSP ORHR_______________00109.BSP ORHR_______________00122.BSP ORHR___________T19_00122.BSP Contain Rosetta orbiter cruise ephemeris, based on data provided by ESOC, spanning the cruise phase, from launch to the comet rendezvous maneuver. The file with the latest version supersedes all previous versions. ORER_______________00031.BSP Contains Rosetta orbiter ephemeris of 1st Earth flyby, based on data provided by ESOC, spanning the 1st Earth flyby period. This file is superseded by the latest ORHR_*.BSP SPK. ORFR_______________00067.BSP Contains Rosetta orbiter ephemeris of 2nd Earth flyby, based on data provided by ESOC, spanning the 2nd Earth flyby period. This file is superseded by the latest ORHR_*.BSP SPK. ORGR_______________00096.BSP Contains Rosetta orbiter ephemeris of 3rd Earth flyby, based on data provided by ESOC, spanning the 3rd Earth flyby period. This file is superseded by the latest ORHR_*.BSP SPK. ORMR_______________00052.BSP Contains Rosetta orbiter ephemeris of Mars flyby, based on data provided by ESOC, spanning the Mars flyby period. This file is superseded by the latest ORHR_*.BSP SPK. ROS_DLR_S4S_1408_1409_V1.BSP This product contains 251 Type 9/Degree 1 SPK segments each covering a two-second interval corresponding to one of OSIRIS images taken in August-September 2014 and used in producing the SHAP4S shape model. The position during each interval is constant. ROS_ORBITER_EXTENSION_V2.BSP This product contains an extension of the Rosetta S/C orbit after end of mission in order to have coverage until 2017-01-01. The Rosetta S/C state vector is constant with respect to the Churyumov-Gerasimenko C-Kernel based frame and is defined by the last state vector provided by the RORB_DV_257_03___T19_00345.BSP kernel. SPICE_PHILAE_CFF_SR_V1_1.BSP SPICE_PHILAE_CFF_CN_V1_1.BSP SPICE_PHILAE_CFF_SONC_V1_1.BSP SPICE_PHILAE_CFF_SONC_V2_0.BSP These products contain an extension of the Rosetta Lander orbit after end of mission in order to have coverage until 2017-01-01 with a candidate of the final lander location. The file is generated using the NAIF utility PINPOINT. Rosetta lander SPKs: LORB_DV_145_01_______00216.BSP LORB_DV_223_01_______00302.BSP LORB_DV_236_01_______00318.BSP LORB_DV_145_01___T19_00216.BSP LORB_DV_223_01___T19_00302.BSP LORB_DV_236_01___T19_00318.BSP Contains Rosetta lander ephemeris for the orbital operations, pre- and post- landing, based on data provided by ESOC. LORB_SUN_J2000_SDL_V1_1.BSP This product reconstructs the descend trajectory of the Rosetta lander as provided by SONC-FD. LORB_SUN_J2000_RBD_1_V1_2.BSP LORB_SUN_J2000_RBD_2_V1_2.BSP LORB_SUN_J2000_RBD_3_V1_2.BSP LORB_SUN_J2000_RBD_4_V1_2.BSP LORB_SUN_J2000_RBD_5_V1_2.BSP LORB_SUN_J2000_RBD_6_V1_2.BSP These products reconstruct the rebound trajectory of the Rosetta lander as provided by SONC-FD. There are six candidate trajectories available. LORB_C_G_FIXED_RBD_7_V2_0.BSP This reconstruction of the lander rebound trajectory is considered by the 7Dwarfs team - which was commissioned by the Rosetta Science Working Team - as the to date most reliable reconstruction. It superseeds the six SONC-FD candidate trajectories. LORB_ROS_SC_PRESEP_V1_0.BSP Rosetta Lander Trajectory before the Lander separation from the Rosetta Orbiter. The Rosetta Lander is attached to the Rosetta Orbiter. Rosetta Structures and Center of Gravity SPKs: ROS_STRUCT_V1.BSP ROS_STRUCT_V2.BSP ROS_STRUCT_V5.BSP ROS_STRUCT_V6.BSP ROS_STRUCT_V8.BSP Contain location of various Rosetta structures and instruments. The file with the latest version supersedes all previous versions. ROS_COG_V4.BSP This file contains the location of the Rosetta Center of Gravity (CoG). Rosetta Mission Target SPKs: CORB_DV_145_01_______00216.BSP CORB_DV_223_01_______00302.BSP CORB_DV_257_02_______00344.BSP CORB_DV_145_01___T19_00216.BSP CORB_DV_223_01___T19_00302.BSP CORB_DV_257_02___T19_00344.BSP CORB_DV_257_03___T19_00345.BSP Contain ephemeris for the comet 67P/C-G, based on data provided by ESOC during orbital operations. Please note that except for CORB_DV_257_03___T19_00345.BSP the rest of the kernels in combination with their homologue Rosetta Orbit files (RORB), contain discontinuities for the spacecraft and the comet orbit; they are 1 second apart in time due to a technical detail how the Rosetta Orbit Determination (OD) system works. Within this 1 sec the relative orbit between Rosetta and the comet is significantly wrong. CORB_DV_257_03___T19_00345.BSP corrects these discontinuities but the jumps t hemselves are still there. With the short data arcs applicable for OD, there was no chance to get hold on the so-called comet non-gravitational acceleration. Hence, in the short arcs comet OD these were neglected with the result that in the next arc, the comet orbit is shifted by the amount the non-gravitational acceleration have accumulated. ORHW_______________00016.BSP ORHW_______________00122.BSP Contain ephemeris for the comet 67P/C-G, based on data provided by ESOC during cruise. For the orbital operations these SPKs are superseded by CORB_*.BSP files. 67P_CHURY_GERAS_2004_2016.BSP Contains ephemeris for the comet 67P/C-G. This file was generated and provided by NAIF early in the mission. This file is superseded by all other 67P/C-G SPKs. ORHS_______________00109.BSP Contains ephemeris for the asteroid Lutetia, based on data provided by ESOC. This file supersedes 21_LUTETIA_2004_2016.BSP for the Lutetia flyby period. 21_LUTETIA_2004_2016.BSP Contains ephemeris for the asteroid Lutetia. This file was generated and provided by NAIF early in the mission. ORHO_______________00077.BSP Contains ephemeris for the asteroid 2867 Steins, based on data provided by ESOC. This file supersedes 2867_STEINS_2004_2016.BSP for the Steins flyby period. 2867_STEINS_2004_2016.BSP Contains ephemeris for the asteroid 2867 Steins. This file was generated and provided by NAIF early in the mission. TEMPEL1_9P_DI_P.BSP Contains ephemeris for the comet Tempel-1/9P courtesy of Deep Impact Team. These ephemeris were compute just before the impact. Spans from May 2005 to September 2005. C2002_T7_LINEAR_HOR_V01.BSP Contains ephemeris data for the comet C2002/T7 - LINEAR. Spans from March 2004 to December 2016. C2004_Q2_MACHHOLZ_HOR_V01.BSP Contains ephemeris data for the comet C2004/Q2 - MACHHOLZ. Spans from 20 January 2005 to 21 January 2005. C2010_A2_LINEAR_HOR_V01.BSP Contains ephemeris data for the comet C2010/A2 - LINEAR. Spans from March 2004 to December 2016. MAR097_030101_170101_V0001.BSP Contains ephemeris data for the Martian System. Spans from January 2003 to December 2016. VESTA_HOR_V01.BSP Contains ephemeris data for Vesta. Spans from March 2004 to December 2016. Ground Stations SPKs: EARTHSTNS_FX_050714.BSP Contains locations of NASA DSN stations. In the interest of flexibility, in this file the reference frame is labeled with the alias 'EARTH_FIXED'. Any application using this file must map the alias 'EARTH_FIXED' to either 'ITR93' or 'IAU_EARTH'. (*) EARTHSTNS_ITRF93_050714.BSP Contains locations of NASA DSN stations relative to the terrestrial reference frame 'ITR93'. (*) ESTRACK_V01.BSP ESTRACK_V04.BSP Contains locations of ESA tracking stations In the interest of flexibility, in this file the reference frame is labeled with the alias 'EARTH_FIXED'. Any application using this file must map the alias 'EARTH_FIXED' to either 'ITR93' or 'IAU_EARTH'. NEW_NORCIA.BSP Contains locations of the ESA New Norcia station. In the interest of flexibility, in this file the reference frame is labeled with the alias 'EARTH_FIXED'. Any application using this file must map the alias 'EARTH_FIXED' to either 'ITR93' or 'IAU_EARTH'. Generic SPKs: DE405.BSP Contains DE405 ephemeris data for planet barycenters, and for the Sun, planets and satellites mass centers. Covers a long enough period for the Rosetta Mission. OUTERPLANETS_V0002.BSP OUTERPLANETS_V0003.BSP Contain ephemeris data for the solar system outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto). (*) Files EARTHSTNS_FX_050714.BSP and EARTHSTNS_ITRF93_050714.BSP contain the same data. These files only differ in that the second one use the reference frame 'ITR93' instead of 'EARTH_FIXED'. 'EARTH_FIXED' alias must be mapped to either 'ITR93' or 'IAU_EARTH' before using the file. Kernel File Details =================== The most detailed description of the data in each SPK file is provided in metadata included inside the comment area of the file. This information can be viewed using utility programs 'commnt' and 'spacit' included in the SPICE Toolkit. At least a basic knowledge of the SPICE system is needed in order to use these kernels. The SPICE Toolkit provides versions in Fortran (SPICELIB), C (CSPICE), IDL (Icy), Matlab (Mice), and Java (JNISpice) and the user can choose any one that suits him/her. The SPICE routine FURNSH can be used to load a kernel file into a SPICE-based application to make kernel data usable with SPICE APIs. In the case when two or more binary SPK files contain data overlapping in time for a given object the file loaded last takes precedence. Please note that SPKs that contain 'T19' in their filename indicate that they are Type 19 SPKs as opposed to type 18. T19 SPKs contain the same data as their non-T19 counterparts but they have precedence due to computational efficiency (although they require Toolkit version N0065 or higher).