SPICE Analysis

SPICE Analysis is an orbital mechanics study that compares an analytically modeled Mars-orbiting space station trajectory against the real trajectories of Phobos and Deimos generated using NASA’s SPICE toolkit in MATLAB. Over a one-year simulation window (Jan 1–Dec 31, 2024), the project numerically propagated the space station’s orbit with MATLAB ODE45 using Mars’ gravitational parameter, then computed and cross-checked key orbital elements—semi-major axis, eccentricity, inclination, RAAN, argument of periapsis, true anomaly, and angular momentum—using both classical equations and SPICE-derived state data. With SPICE kernels integrated for high-fidelity ephemerides, the results showed strong agreement between methods (maximum difference ~1.72% for Phobos’ semi-major axis), validating the reliability of SPICE for orbit determination and comparison, while identifying a plotting artifact that flagged a visualization issue for follow-up.