Great circle trajectory

Orekit development
1

I see from this discussion and the code base that it is possible to create a rhumbline trajectory. I was wondering if there was anything similar for a great-circle trajectory?

2

Never mind, found it. Nice work @greyskyy

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3

@greyskyy Just to check, two quick questions:

  1. The great circle code assumes the WGS84 ellipsoid, not just a sphere?
  2. Does it account for altitude?
4

@baubin yes to both.

in more detail:

  1. the great circle builder (WaypointPVBuilder.greatCircleBuilder(…)) takes a OneAxisEllipsoid parameter. If you provide the WGS84 ellipsoid, you’ll be following a great circle on that ellipsoid
  2. the altitude is assumed to be elevation above the ellipsoid. So, when interpolating between waypoints, we linearly interpolate between altitude as well.
5

Thanks a ton @greyskyy , I know I probably sounded a little redundant, but I just wanted to be sure.

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