Creating Your First Spacecraft

For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt.

Before you can track orbits, plan maneuvers, or predict communication windows, you need to register your spacecraft. After logging in, navigate to Spacecraft in the left sidebar. The detail page is organised by fidelity tier — Identifiers, Cannonball model (bulk mass plus single drag and SRP area coefficients), Advanced geometry (bus dimensions, panel definition, and mounted components), and a Danger Zone for archive and restore actions.

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Quick Start

Click New Spacecraft in the top-bar of the Spacecraft page to navigate to the /spacecraft/new creation page. The page mirrors the detail-page layout — the same Identifiers, Cannonball model, and Advanced geometry sections — but starts empty with every card already in edit mode. Required fields are marked with an asterisk and the page-level Create Spacecraft button at the bottom refuses to submit until every required field is filled. After you create the spacecraft, you’ll land on the detail page that documents each section in full:

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Identifiers

The first section on the page carries four fields: A blank or whitespace-only Name shows the literal "Required" inline next to the field and blocks the submit.

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Cannonball Model

The cannonball model is the default fidelity tier — bulk mass plus single drag and SRP area coefficients. The platform’s default propagation and conjunction stack uses these values, so the page requires all the values below except Dry Mass: Validation: any blank required field shows "Required" inline. The page stays open and nothing is created until every required field is filled. See Validation Feedback for the full per-field surface that appears as you type.

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Advanced Geometry

The Advanced geometry section is optional on the creation page — leave it blank for a cannonball-only spacecraft and add the geometry later from the Bus card and Panel definition card on the detail page. When you do fill it in here, the page pre-fills Number of panel pairs to 2 and Panel normal to +X — both match the everyday default and rarely need tuning for newcomers.

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Bus shape

The Bus card opens with a Shape selector — choose Box or Regular prism. You define the whole bus from this single card during creation, with no extra navigation step. Switching the Shape clears the dimension inputs entered for the previous shape. A Box bus shows three dimension fields (Length, Width, Height) and no prism fields — a CubeSat might be 0.1 m per side, while larger satellites can run several metres. A Regular prism bus replaces them with the polygon-prism inputs: In read mode the diameter is shown with its measure, for example 1.0 m (Inscribed). The 3D viewer beside the card renders the bus in its true shape — the configured polygon prism for a regular-prism spacecraft, or a box for a box spacecraft. When no attitude profile is configured, the Bus card shows the inline note “faceted forces apply once an attitude profile is configured” for both box and regular-prism shapes — the faceted radiation model engages once you add an attitude profile.

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Panels

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Validation Feedback

As you fill the form, each input shows inline feedback below it — the same surface you’ll see on every detail-page card after creation: Cross-field area-ratio warning — when you’ve touched both Drag area and SRP area, an amber warning appears on the Cannonball model section if the ratio of SRP area to drag area is outside the typical band:

Ratio of SRP area to drag area is outside typical range — check for unit confusion or stale geometry

The warning is non-blocking — you can still submit — but is a strong hint that one of the two values is wrong (commonly a cm² vs. m² slip).

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Creating the Spacecraft

Click Create Spacecraft at the bottom of the page to submit. On success the platform:

• Shows a confirmation toast.
• Navigates to the new spacecraft’s detail page so you can complete the remaining configuration.

Cancel at the bottom of the page returns you to the spacecraft list without saving. If the submit fails (a backend rejection, a network error), the page stays open with your entered values intact and shows the error message inline so you can correct and retry.

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Completing the Configuration

Several fields live on the detail page rather than on the creation page. Visit each card after creation:

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Inertia tensor — Mass card

The Mass card in the Cannonball model section hosts the inertia tensor — three principal moments (Ixx, Iyy, Izz) displayed as a 3×3 matrix with the moments on the diagonal and zeros off-diagonal. Set all three moments together (or leave all three blank). Validation rejects partial or non-positive entries:

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Surface optics — Bus card

The Bus card in the Advanced geometry section holds two surface-optics fields used by the faceted radiation model when the spacecraft also has an attitude profile configured:

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Panel normal — Panel definition card

The Panel definition card in the Panels tab of the Advanced geometry section holds the panel-normal selector — choose one of +X, -X, +Y, -Y, +Z, -Z, or Custom (which reveals three numeric sub-inputs for an arbitrary vector). A zero-length custom vector is rejected with the message "Panel normal must be a non-zero direction.". Any other vector is accepted and normalised internally.

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Thrusters — Thrusters tab

The Thrusters tab in the Advanced geometry section lists every thruster mounted on the spacecraft. Click Add thruster to open the thruster dialog and configure each one: Deleting a thruster prompts a confirmation before applying.

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Payloads — Payloads tab

The Payloads tab in the Advanced geometry section lists the on-board sensors mounted on the spacecraft — each one a body-frame boresight axis plus a field of view. Payloads are added inline (not in a dialog): click Add payload, fill the card in place, and Save it. To add one:

1. Name the payload (for example, Imager-1). A name is required.
2. Set the Position (m) — the X, Y, Z attachment coordinates on the spacecraft body, in metres; any component may be negative.
3. Pick the Boresight — the body-frame axis the payload points along, one of X+, X-, Y+, Y-, Z+, Z-.
4. Choose the FOV shape, then fill the half-angle fields that appear for it (every angle is measured from the boresight to the edge of the field of view):
   • Conical — one half-angle from 0° to 90° (90° is a full hemisphere).
   • Rectangular or Elliptical — a half-width and a half-height, each above 0° and below 90°.
   • Polygon — at least 3 sides and a radius half-angle above 0° and below 90°, measured from the boresight to a vertex.

A spacecraft holds up to 8 payloads; once eight are configured the Add payload button is disabled with a Maximum 8 payloads tooltip. Each payload’s field of view is drawn live in the 3D viewer, oriented along its boresight with its apex at the attachment position. Payloads are optional — a spacecraft with no payloads is still complete.

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Editing After Creation

The detail page uses per-card editing — each card has its own Edit, Save, and Cancel controls. Entering edit mode on one card leaves every other card in read mode. While a save is in flight the card’s button shows Saving... and its inputs are disabled until the save completes. Cancel discards your draft and restores the last-saved values. The Identifiers section is the one exception: it edits all four identifier fields under a single section-level Edit control. For a full walk-through of each section and its fields, see Spacecraft Management.

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What Makes a “Complete” Spacecraft?

The creation page only requires identifiers, the cannonball model values, and a few optional geometry hints, but a complete spacecraft has:

1. Full identification: Name, NORAD ID, COSPAR ID — establishes the spacecraft’s official identity.
2. Cannonball model: Launch and dry mass, drag and SRP areas, drag and reflectivity coefficients — enables default propagation and conjunction analysis.
3. Inertia tensor: Three principal moments — required for attitude propagation and any analysis sensitive to rotational dynamics.
4. Advanced geometry: Bus dimensions, surface optics, panel definition, panel normal — enables the faceted radiation model.
5. Orbital data: State vectors or TLEs — tells the platform where the spacecraft is and where it’s going.
6. Propulsion: Defined thrusters with positions and performance characteristics — enables maneuver planning.
7. Payloads (optional): On-board sensors with a boresight axis and field of view — describes what the spacecraft observes. A spacecraft with no payloads is still complete.

You can fill these in progressively. Start with what you have and add the rest as it becomes available during development, launch, and operations.

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Common Questions

Q: I don’t know the drag coefficient. A: Use 2.2. It works for most satellites. Q: Should I register a spacecraft before launch? A: Yes. Register the spacecraft as soon as you have a name and the cannonball model values; leave NORAD and COSPAR IDs blank until they are assigned after launch. Q: What if I make a mistake? A: Every section on the detail page is editable. Click Edit on the relevant card and save your correction. Q: Do I need to understand orbital mechanics? A: No. The platform handles the calculations — you describe physical properties. Q: Can I create multiple spacecraft? A: Yes. There’s no limit. Create entries for an entire constellation or manage multiple missions simultaneously.

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