Dynamic 3-D Visualization of the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Attitude Control Simulator

Abstract

Visualizing the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) attitude control behavior is useful for verifying dynamical characteristics unseen in previous Earth-orbiting satellite missions. This paper describes a visualization component of the LUNASIM simulator running unmodified attitude control flight software that is able to communicate with an external program to animate realistically in three dimensions the simulated attitude and orbital state, thruster firings, and solar array rotations of KPLO at faster-than real-time speeds for intuitive design verification. Visualization is also supported when LUNASIM is connected to a processor emulator in a fully end-to-end simulated ETB environment. Results are presented illustrating accurate spacecraft dynamics during special mission scenarios such as roll maneuvering while Sun-pointing near the ecliptic plane, yaw-flipped lunar orbit attitude, and slewing to image the lunar surface while in 45-degree tilted attitude. These results demonstrate the value of visualizing attitude control simulator output for novel spacecraft missions.