Do Open Source Tools Rival Heritage Systems? A comparison of tide models in OCEAN and Orekit

What is it about?

This paper compares a precision orbit determination tool built on top of an open-source astrodynamics library (Orekit) to a heritage orbit determination tool (OCEAN). While OCEAN generally performed better in limited testing, the Orekit-based tool performed nearly as well.

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Why is it important?

This work shows that a leading, open-source astrodynamics library (Orekit) is at parity with heritage astrodynamic modeling tools. The open-source community has historically not had access to high precision astrodynamics tool. This could represent the beginning of a larger departure of how the industry builds and maintains these complex tools.