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MEX PCK Files
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Last Update: 12 MAY 2006
This "aareadme.txt" file describes the contents of the KERNELS/PCK directory
of the MEX SPICE data server. It also provides the file naming conventions
used for the MEX PCK kernels, and it provides identification of the most
current version of each kind of PCK file.
PCK files in this directory are either binary or text files. Text files are
created manually with the information from mainly the 2000 IAU Report.
Binary files are created from the information contained in the EOP files
provided by IERS
All binary PCK files (*.BPC) contained in this directory are unix binary
files. These may be used as is (without format conversion) in a non-unix
environment by using any recent version of the SPICE Toolkit (Version N0052
or later). [Ref 2a]
All text PCK files (*.TPC) contained in this directory are unix text files.
These may be used in a non-compatible text environment by using the ASCII
mode of FTP to port the files. [Ref 2a]
Contact Jorge Diaz del Rio (jdiaz@rssd.esa.int) or Joe Zender
(Joe.Zender@esa.int) if you have any questions.
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References
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1. PCK Reading. NAIF Document No. 254.05 17 Jan 2002
2. Selected SPICE Tutorials from the NAIF server:
ftp://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/toolkit_docs/Tutorials/office/individual_docs/
a) Porting Kernels Tutorial 09_porting_kernels.ppt
b) PCK Tutorial 16_pck.ppt
3. NAIF IDs Required Reading. NAIF Document No. 219.12 30 Jul 2003
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Mars Express PCK Directory Structure
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aareadme.txt Text file describing the directory structure, the naming
conventions for the PCK, and the current version(s) of
each PCK type.
former_versions Subdirectory that contains obsolete versions of the PCK
files that have been updated in the Current PCK Kernel
Set.
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MEX Binary PCK Naming Convention EARTH_[sdat]_[edat]_[pdat].BPC
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token description
--------- -------------------------------------------------------
[sdat] Coverage start time of the file in YYMMDD format.
[edat] Coverage end time of the file in YYMMDD format.
[pdat] Start time for the predicted data in the file in YYMMDD
format.
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Current PCK Kernels Set
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Name Comments
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EARTH_[sdat]_[edat]_[pdat].BPC PCK file containing the orientation of the
Earth as a function of time for the interval
[sdat] to [edat]. From [pdat] the information
contained in the file corresponds to predicted
data. The rotational effects included are
precession, nutation, rotation through true
siderial time, polar motion and nutation
corrections.
MARS_IAU2000_Vx.TCP PCK file containing the radii and orientation
constants for Mars and its natural satellites
DE403-MASSES.TPC PCK file containing the masses for the sun and
planetary barycenters. These masses are given
as ratios to of Solar GM to barycenter GM.
PCK00008.TPC PCK file containing the size, shape, radii
and orientation constants for planets,
satellites, Sun and some asteroids.