Project Objective:

This project aims to enable students to apply principles of particle dynamics to simulate

and analyze the motion of a satellite or comet under the combined gravitational influence

of the Earth, Moon, and Sun using Python. Students will develop a code to model the

motion, solve the resulting differential equations, and analyze the trajectories under

different scenarios, using realistic initial conditions collected from the internet.

Project Scope:

Satellite$/$Comet Dynamics Simulation:

Objective: Develop a Python program to simulate the motion of a satellite or

comet under the gravitational forces of the Earth, Moon, and Sun using

realistic initial conditions. The Sun's gravitational field may be assumed

constant in a fixed direction.

Tasks:

Define the gravitational force equations for the Earth, Moon, and Sun.

Collect realistic initial conditions for a satellite or comet from the

internet $($e$.$g$.,$ position, velocity, mass$).$

Write Python code to set up and solve the equations of motion using

numerical methods $($e$.$g$.,$ Euler's method, Runge$-$Kutta method$).$

Simulate the motion for the collected initial conditions and gravitational

parameters.

Analysis and Visualization:

Objective: Analyze the simulation results and visualize the trajectories of the

satellite or comet.

Tasks:

Plot the trajectories for different scenarios.

Analyze the effects of varying initial conditions on the motion.

Discuss the stability and behavior of the satellite$/$comet under the

gravitational influences.