Description
The Albedo Planet Model is a model that stores all information about the albedo of a planet, including any settings that may be used. It can be configured to use either an average albedo value or a lookup table loaded from a file, allowing for both simple uniform albedo and spatially varying albedo data across the planetary surface.
Example Use Cases
- LEO Thermal Modeling: Calculate Earth albedo contributions for spacecraft in low Earth orbit using lookup data.
- Planetary Missions: Estimate reflected sunlight for thermal design of probes near Mars, Venus, or other bodies.
- Parametric Studies: Use average albedo values for quick sensitivity analysis.
Module Implementation
The Albedo Planet Model attaches to a Celestial Body and provides albedo data that is consumed by Albedo Model instances on spacecraft.
Configuration
The model supports two data types:
| Data Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Average | Uses a single average albedo value for the entire planet |
| Lookup | Loads spatially varying albedo data from a file |
Properties
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| AlbedoAverage | Average albedo value for the planet |
| DataType | Specifies the data type to use for this planet |
| FilePath | The file path used if the data type is LOOKUP |
| NumberLatitudes | The number of latitudes to loop through |
| NumberLongitudes | The number of longitudes to loop through |
Initialization
The Initialise method loads the albedo planet configuration with a particular file path storing all the data, or configures the model with default values for an average model.