Orbit File Repeat Cycle

An orbit file will contain a certain number of state vectors covering a given validity period identified by the epoch span between the first and the last state vector.

In order to obtain orbit predictions out of the orbit file validity period, the software will use the closest available state vectors, which will be

• the earliest one, for predictions before, or

• the last one for predictions after the validity period.

This is the default behaviour.

Alternatively, it is possible to define a Repeat Cycle, in days, on the assumption that the satellite follows a repetitive pattern like for Sun Synchronous missions. In that case the orbit predictions will be calculated in the time window [start, start + repeat_cycle] , where "start" is the epoch of the first state vector in the orbit file.