With those two terms out of the way, let us discuss the resources you might need for such a project. Using this method, we assume that at a certain distance, the gravity of the Earth on the spacecraft is weak, so we switch to the Sun’s reference frame. Trajectories in the Two Body Approximation take the shape of conics: circles, ellipses, hyperbolas and parabolas. The Patched Conics method allows us to stitch together these orbits. The Two Body Approximation assumes that at any given point, one large body (a planet, or the Sun) is dominating the gravitational field that the spacecraft is in. I will answer your second question first: Depending on how accurate you wish your trajectory to be, this is a very do-able project! A simple yet accurate simulation of a spacecraft’s trajectory can be constructed using what are called “ Patched Conics” and the “ Two Body Approximation”. Is it feasible for a group of high-school students to develop such a model for a fun (non-school, non-graded) project? The idea is to develop a model that would determine the launch characteristics in order that the spacecraft visits multiple planets/moons. Is there public domain software that can calculate the trajectory of a spacecraft using a model of the solar system (that includes planets and moons)?
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