General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) User Guide The GMAT Development Team 18 May 2012 General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT): User Guide General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................ vi I. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction to GMAT ............................................................................................. 2 Licensing .......................................................................................................... 2 Platform Support .............................................................................................. 2 User Interfaces ................................................................................................. 3 Development Status .......................................................................................... 3 Contributors ..................................................................................................... 3 Getting Started ......................................................................................................... 4 Installation ....................................................................................................... 4 Starting and Quitting GMAT ............................................................................. 4 Running the GMAT Demos .............................................................................. 4 User Interfaces Overview .................................................................................. 5 Data and Configuration ................................................................................... 10 Other Resources ............................................................................................. 16 II. Creating Your First Mission ......................................................................................... 17 Simulating an Orbit ................................................................................................. 18 Objective and Overview .................................................................................. 18 Configure the Spacecraft .................................................................................. 18 Configure the Propagator ................................................................................. 20 Configure the Propagate Command .................................................................. 21 Run and Analyze the Results ............................................................................ 22 III. Common Tasks ......................................................................................................... 24 Configuring a Spacecraft .......................................................................................... 25 Setting the Initial Epoch .................................................................................. 25 Configuring the Orbit ...................................................................................... 25 Configuring Physical Properties ........................................................................ 26 Configuring the Attitude (Fixed) ....................................................................... 27 Configuring the Attitude (Spinner) .................................................................... 27 Propagating a Spacecraft .......................................................................................... 29 Configuring the Force Model ........................................................................... 29 Configuring the Force Model: Mars .................................................................. 29 Propagating for a Duration .............................................................................. 30 Propagating to an Orbit Condition ................................................................... 31 Reporting Data ....................................................................................................... 32 Reporting Data During a Propagation Span ....................................................... 32 Reporting Data at a Specific Mission Event ....................................................... 32 Creating a CCSDS Ephemeris File .................................................................... 33 Creating an SPK Ephemeris File ...................................................................... 33 Visualizing Data ...................................................................................................... 35 Manipulating the 3D Orbit View ...................................................................... 35 Configuring the Ground Track Plot .................................................................. 35 Creating a 2D Plot .......................................................................................... 35 IV. Tutorials ................................................................................................................... 37 Simple Orbit Transfer .............................................................................................. 38 Objective and Overview .................................................................................. 38 iii General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) Configure Maneuvers, Differential Corrector, and Graphics ................................. 38 Configure the Mission Sequence ....................................................................... 39 Run the Mission ............................................................................................. 46 V. Reference Guide ......................................................................................................... 48 I. Resources ............................................................................................................ 50 Array ............................................................................................................. 51 Barycenter ...................................................................................................... 52 CelestialBodies ................................................................................................ 53 CoordinateSystem ............................................................................................ 57 DifferentialCorrector ....................................................................................... 58 EphemerisFile ................................................................................................. 61 EphemerisPropagator ...................................................................................... 62 FiniteBurn ...................................................................................................... 63 Formation ...................................................................................................... 65 FuelTank ........................................................................................................ 66 GMATFunction .............................................................................................. 69 GroundStation ................................................................................................ 70 GroundTrackPlot ............................................................................................ 71 ImpulsiveBurn ................................................................................................ 74 LibrationPoint ................................................................................................. 76 MATLABFunction .......................................................................................... 78 OrbitView ...................................................................................................... 79 Propagator ...................................................................................................... 85 ReportFile ...................................................................................................... 92 SolarSystem .................................................................................................... 95 Spacecraft ....................................................................................................... 97 SQP ............................................................................................................. 106 String ........................................................................................................... 109 Thruster ....................................................................................................... 110 Variable ........................................................................................................ 115 VF13adOptimizer .......................................................................................... 116 XYPlot ......................................................................................................... 117 II. Commands ....................................................................................................... 119 Achieve ........................................................................................................ 120 BeginFiniteBurn ............................................................................................ 121 BeginMissionSequence ................................................................................... 122 CallGmatFunction