Orbital Element Set Audit

Audit named elliptic elements and flag undefined periapsis/node angles in circular/equatorial cases; completeness is not dynamical validity.

Description

Classical elliptic orbital elements use six named quantities, but some orientation angles are undefined for circular or equatorial cases.

Classical elliptic orbital elements use six named quantities, but some orientation angles are undefined for circular or equatorial cases. Completeness and angular singularity therefore need separate reporting.^[1]

Audit named elliptic elements and flag undefined periapsis/node angles in circular/equatorial cases; completeness is not dynamical validity.

When to use Orbital Element Set Audit

Use this tool to audit named elliptic elements and flag undefined periapsis/node angles in circular/equatorial cases; completeness is not dynamical validity.

Prepare the orbital state or model parameters in one reference frame. Confirm compatible distance/time units and the stated angular and gravitational-parameter conventions.

How to use Orbital Element Set Audit and understand its results

Prepare the orbital state or model parameters in one reference frame. Confirm compatible distance/time units and the stated angular and gravitational-parameter conventions.
Enter elementNames, elementValues using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read complete, missingElements, singularAngleElements. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
elementNames	Element names	list of string	Required
elementValues	Element values	list of number	Required

Enter aligned nonempty name/value lists with distinct exact canonical names. Supplied a must be positive, e in [0,1), and i in [0,180] degrees. The tool reports missing names in canonical order and complete when none are missing. It flags argp when supplied e is zero and raan when supplied i is 0 or 180, even if that angle itself is absent.

Paired lists must be nonempty and have equal lengths.

required names = a, e, i, raan, argp, meanAnomaly

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
complete	Complete	boolean
missingElements	Missing elements	list of string
singularAngleElements	Singular angle elements	list of string

json

{
  "input": {
    "elementNames": [
      "a",
      "e",
      "i",
      "raan",
      "argp",
      "meanAnomaly"
    ],
    "elementValues": [
      10,
      0.2,
      30,
      0,
      45,
      90
    ]
  },
  "output": {
    "complete": true,
    "missingElements": [],
    "singularAngleElements": []
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

Other supplied angles are only checked as finite numbers. The audit does not establish a valid frame, epoch, surface clearance or a dynamically consistent orbit; singular flags use exact equality.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Lists are limited to 100,000 entries; the rules above may require smaller limits. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors. A successfully returned false flag is an evaluated outcome; its meaning is explained above.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Ellipse From Apsis Radii: Recover ellipse shape parameters from ordered center-referenced periapsis and apoapsis radii, not surface altitudes. For a complementary task, use Elliptic Mean To True Anomaly: Solve elliptic Kepler equation with bounded bisection and convert to wrapped true anomaly; angles are in degrees.

References

Orbital Element Set Audit — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Ellipse From Apsis Radii
Recover ellipse shape parameters from ordered center-referenced periapsis and apoapsis radii, not surface altitudes.
Elliptic Mean To True Anomaly
Solve elliptic Kepler equation with bounded bisection and convert to wrapped true anomaly; angles are in degrees.