[X] My Assistant

[Holder of the Tw...]

NASA update on the OSIRIS-REx mission, includes first picture of the asteroid from the spacecraft.

Begins Operations

[mcaplinger]

There are SPICE kernels for Orex at https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/ORX/kernels/ -- AFAIK this is what the flight team is using.

[Guest_mcmcmc_*]

There are SPICE kernels for Orex at https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/ORX/kernels/ -- AFAIK this is what the flight team is using.

I have no idea of what SPICE kernels are.

[mcaplinger]

I have no idea of what SPICE kernels are.

They are files that capture the position and orientation of spacecraft and solar system bodies, used for mission planning and data analysis. https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/aboutspice.html

If NASA Horizons does what you want, then by all means use it. I'm not certain how frequently it's updated, however.

[Guest_mcmcmc_*]

They are files that capture the position and orientation of spacecraft and solar system bodies, used for mission planning and data analysis. https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/aboutspice.html

If NASA Horizons does what you want, then by all means use it. I'm not certain how frequently it's updated, however.

It's not clear to me how these data about spacecrafts are produced; are they recorded data up to current date and calculated data from now on? i.e. are they daily updated? or just calculated from mission schedules? OSIRIS data clearly show the trajectory correction maneuvers occurred during last months, but Hayabusa data show almost constant distance 7000m from Ryugu for same period, which is not true because Hayabusa actually passed from 20.000 to 20m and the other way round several times.

[djellison]

It's not clear to me how these data about spacecrafts are produced; are they recorded data up to current date and calculated data from now on? i.e. are they daily updated? or just calculated from mission schedules?

Yes. All of the above. Sometimes they are reconstructed. Sometimes they are predicted. Sometimes updated very regularly. Sometimes not. Metadata is usually included to explain the source of the data used.