April 30, 2014

Meetings

Discussed plans for tomorrow's presentation.

Progress

Made adjustments and applied some tweaks to the algorithm as well as the calculation of gravity.

Most adjustments ended in failure and had to be thrown out.

April 26, 2014

Progress

Made adjustments and applied some tweaks to the algorithm as well as the calculation of gravity. Added collision detection, fuel usage, and shuttle acceleration based on Durell's notes.

Performed extensive testing.

April 23, 2014

Meetings

Discussed wrapping the project up for next week's presentation. We'll finish up implementing gravity, then the shuttle's acceleration, fuel usage, and collision detection. We'll be calling it quits after that. There just isn't enough time for anything else.

April 11, 2014

Meetings

Discussed changes to be made to the pathfinding algorithm.

Progress

Son - Changed the system so that the shuttle is being moved by vectors instead of having its location determined by triangulating its polar coordinates of where it's supposed to be.

April 7, 2014

Meetings

Discussed actual algorithm to be implemented. Due to a busy schedule, it won't be implemented until April 9, 2014.

Progress

Durell - Presented the pathfinding algorithm to be used.

April 4, 2014

Meetings

Discussed ways to approach and handle a path finding algorithm. Main things to consider:

• The initial starting point and launch angle of time step t0, for use in calculating time step t1.
• Keeping track of the shuttle's location at all times.
• A space shuttle's maximum velocity.
• Preventing the shuttle from making unrealistic turns.

March 31, 2014

Meetings

Evaluated current state of the project and what to do next. We went over everything that has been implemented so far. Our subgoals were further refined. As for allocated work:

• Durell will be figuring out an algorithm for planning a shuttle's flight path.
• Son will be working on creating visuals for the flight path.

March 27, 2014

Progress

Durell - Compiled a new schedule for the project. Brainstorming changes to program and the direction of the project.

Son - rechecked the math on planetary positioning. Performed a lot of debugging. Modularized many parts of coding. Finished fleshing out the UI and added a bit of functionality to it. Added instructions for compiling and running the program. Fixed a few files so that the program will compile.

Meetings

Decided on new sub-goals for the project. The project seems more do-able now.

March 26, 2014

Progress

Son - Performed extensive research on planetary positioning. Found a Java library for astronomical routines called AstroLib. Performed testing and found the heliocentric coordinates to be accurate to within at least three decimal places. This will be good enough for the prototype. We may try to improve accuracy later on if given enough time. Updated website. Created a prototype for the project starting with the simulation of planetary positions and orbits. Committed it to repository.

Meetings

To be held Thursday, March 27.

March 23, 2014

Progress

Durell - Working hard on researching about space shuttle launches and space shuttle specs to use in our simulations. His work can be found here.

Son - Assisting in research by gathering information about planets, gravitational fields, and planet positions and orbits. Updated website.

Meetings

None for this week. We're both busy with gathering information and performing research for the project.

Developer Notes

Liftoff Notes
Preliminary Launch Equation Notes
Julian Dates
Pathfinding - draft
Gravity

Shuttle Launch Info

http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-shuttle.htm

Planet Facts

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planetfact.html

Gravitational Fields

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton's_law_of_universal_gravitation
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A-level_Physics_(Advancing_Physics)/Gravitational_Fields

Planet Position and Orbit

http://www.braeunig.us/space/plntpos.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler's_laws_of_planetary_motion
http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/comp/tutorial.html

Java Libraries

AstroLib