Orekit Lambert Solver

Greetings! I’m new to using Orekit, having transitioned (for both infrastructure and maintenance reasons) from Pykep, and I was wondering: Is there a Lambert solver hidden somewhere? My Javadoc searches are coming up empty, but the Orekit package is certainly expansive!

For complete context, this chunk of the project is to generate transfer orbits from one planet to the other, in order to generate plausible-but-fictional porkchop plot data. If I need to reimplement a Lambert solver (for which departure and arrival delta-V, assuming impulsive maneuvers, can be calculated) I might but I’d hate to reinvent a wheel that’s already been created by people more talented than myself!

Thank you!

Hello @SenorPez,

Welcome to Orekit and its forum !
There is a Lambert solver but it’s hidden in the estimation.iod package under the name IodLambert.
I’m afraid it’s not as modern as the one from PyKep. We would benefit from implementing Izzo’s or Der’s method (or both) to improve the results.
Still, it should work for producing the porkchop plots.

Cheers,
Maxime

Thank you for your reply!

I have some experiencing implementing Izzo’s algorithm, so I might take a crack at it and see how it compares to the IOD package algorithm. I helped a game development team for a space-based game; ironically, once they learned what real orbits cost and look like, they opted for a more “space opera” style!

Good to know @SenorPez :slight_smile: What’s the name of the game?

Don’t forget to contribute it to Orekit if you develop a new Lambert solver :wink:

Cheers,
Maxime