SPICE is a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
ancillary information system used to compute geometric information used in planning and analyzing science observations obtained from robotic spacecraft. It is also used in planning missions and conducting numerous engineering functions needed to carry out those missions.
SPICE was developed at NASA's Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF), located at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States.
Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...
. It has become the ''de facto'' standard for handling much of the so-called observation geometry information on NASA's planetary missions, and it is now widely used in support of science data analysis on planetary missions of other space agencies as well. Some SPICE capabilities are also used on a variety of astrophysics, solar physics and earth science missions.
Data
SPICE data files are usually referred to as "kernels." These files provide information such as spacecraft trajectory and orientation; target body
ephemeris
In astronomy and celestial navigation, an ephemeris (pl. ephemerides; ) is a book with tables that gives the trajectory of naturally occurring astronomical objects as well as artificial satellites in the sky, i.e., the position (and possibly vel ...
, size and shape; instrument field-of-view size, shape and orientation; specifications for reference frames; and tabulations of time system conversion coefficients.
SPICE data are archived in a national archive center such as the NASA
Planetary Data System
The Planetary Data System (PDS) is a distributed data system that NASA uses to archive data collected by Solar System missions.
The PDS is an active archive that makes available well documented, peer reviewed planetary data to the research communi ...
archives.
Software
The SPICE system includes software referred to as The SPICE Toolkit, used for reading the SPICE data files and computing geometric parameters based on data from those files. These tools are provided as subroutine libraries in four programming languages:
C,
FORTRAN,
IDL,
MATLAB
MATLAB (an abbreviation of "MATrix LABoratory") is a proprietary multi-paradigm programming language and numeric computing environment developed by MathWorks. MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation ...
and Java Native Interface. Third parties offer Python and Ruby interfaces to the C-language Toolkit.
The Toolkits also include a number of utility and application programs. The SPICE Toolkits are available for most popular computing platforms, operating systems and compilers. Extensive documentation accompanies each Toolkit.
Those unable to write their own SPICE-based program may try using WebGeocalc, a browser interface to a SPICE-based geometry engine running on the NAIF server. Using WebGeocalc is much easier than writing your own program, but it still requires considerable knowledge about SPICE data and solar system geometry, and it doesn't offer the full range of computations available when using Toolkit software in your own program.
The NAIF Group also offers a 3-D mission visualization program named SPICE-Enhanced Cosmographia. This program runs in the OSX, Windows and Linux environments. Visual representations of mission SPICE data are controlled using an assortment of menus and GUI controls. A scripting interface is also available.
Tutorials and programming lessons
A set of tutorials is available to help users understand the SPICE data and software. Some "open book" programming lessons useful in learning how to program using Toolkit subroutines are also available.
Availability
The SPICE data, Toolkit software, tutorials and programming lessons are all freely available from the NAIF website.
There are no licensing or export restrictions. Prospective users are cautioned that it takes some effort to learn to use this software: it is primarily provided for professionals in the space exploration business. Prospective users should carefully read the "Rules" page available at the NAIF website.
External links
NAIF Website
References
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NASA online
Jet Propulsion Laboratory