SGP4 Orbital Propagation Prototype

Python engineering prototype for satellite orbit prediction using SGP4

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Project maintained by ruddro-roy Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

SGP4 Orbital Propagation Prototype

A Python engineering prototype for satellite orbit prediction using the SGP4 model, built to understand orbital mechanics from first principles.

What It Does

• Parses Two-Line Element (TLE) sets and extracts orbital parameters
• Propagates satellite positions using the SGP4 algorithm
• Transforms coordinates between TEME, ECEF, and geodetic frames
• Handles propagation failures with automatic two-body fallback
• Wraps propagation in PyTorch for gradient-based analysis (experimental)

ISS Ground Track

ISS ground track over 3 orbits (~4.5 h).

System Architecture

B* Drag Sensitivity

B varied ±50%; km-scale position divergence within days.*

24-Hour Propagation

Error Recovery

When SGP4 fails, the system logs diagnostics and falls back to Keplerian propagation.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/ruddro-roy/SGP4.git
cd SGP4
pip install -r requirements.txt
python demo.py --sensitivity

Links

• Full documentation (README)
• Error Recovery Guide
• Source code

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Engineering prototype, not certified for operational use.