Space Orbit Dynamics

A real-time 2D N-Body gravitational simulator that models the Sun-Earth-Moon system with interactive asteroid impacts, powered by a custom RK4 numerical integrator.

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Main Features

• Custom RK4 Integrator: A hand-coded 4th-order Runge-Kutta solver for coupled ODEs, avoiding black-box solvers to provide full transparency over the physics engine.
• Real-Time Energy Conservation: Live tracking of total mechanical energy error (ΔE/E₀) to monitor numerical integration accuracy and stability over time.
• Dynamic Asteroid Events: Spawn asteroids on hyperbolic trajectories that interact gravitationally with planets and generate animated explosion effects upon collision.
• Interactive Controls: Adjustable sliders for Earth/Moon velocities and integration time step (dt), with buttons to reset, apply stable conditions, or inject asteroids.
• Polished Visualization: Deep-space dark theme with static starfields, glowing halos, atmosphere layers, motion trails, and particle-like explosion animations.
• N-Body Gravity Engine: Full pairwise gravitational interaction between all bodies using Newtonian gravity with softening to prevent singularities.

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Pages & Views

This project does not contain multiple UI screens. The entire simulation runs in a single Matplotlib window divided into three panels:

View	Description
Space View	Main simulation area displaying the Sun, Earth, Moon, asteroids, orbital trails, and explosion effects on a dark starfield background.
Energy Panel	Real-time plot of the relative total mechanical energy error (ΔE/E₀) over simulation time.
Info Panel	Displays physical parameters, orbital constants, integrator settings, and live simulation metrics (time and energy error).

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Execution and Development Guide

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/CamiloAT/space-orbit-dynamics.git
   cd space-orbit-dynamics

2. Install dependencies:

   Make sure you have Python 3.8 or later installed, then run:

   pip install numpy matplotlib

3. Run the simulation:

   python space.py

4. Interact with the simulation:

   • Use the bottom sliders to adjust Earth velocity, Moon velocity, and the integration time step (dt).
   • Click Aplicar Cambios to apply new slider values and restart the simulation.
   • Click Condiciones Estables to reset to default stable orbital parameters.
   • Click Añadir Asteroide to inject an asteroid on a hyperbolic trajectory into the system.

Note: The simulation window must be kept open for the animation to run. Close the window to terminate the program.

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Project Structure

space-orbit-dynamics/
├── space.py        ← Main simulation: physics engine, RK4 integrator, visualization, and interactive controls
└── README.md       ← Project documentation and usage guide

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	Python 3.8+
Numerical Computation	NumPy (vector math, array manipulation)
Visualization	Matplotlib (Pyplot, Animation, Widgets, Patches)
Integration Method	Manual 4-stage Runge-Kutta (RK4)
Physics Model	Newtonian N-Body Gravity with softening

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Authors

Name	GitHub
Camilo Andres Arias Tenjo	@CamiloAT
Jose Luis Ortega Castillo	@JoseOrtegaUPTC

Computer Simulation