Artemis II Mission Trajectory Ephemeris and Visualization

Official NASA ephemeris data for the Artemis II mission trajectory, converted into a SPICE SPK kernel and accompanied by interactive 3D visualization scripts. The dataset includes a verified closest lunar approach altitude of 6,547 km. It was authored by K.-Michael Aye and published on April 6, 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze the Orion spacecraft's state vectors over time using the SPK kernel for trajectory propagation.
• Visualize the 3D mission path relative to Earth and Moon with the interactive Plotly HTML file.
• Plot the spacecraft's altitude above the Moon over time using the provided Python script and distance data.
• Verify orbital calculation tools by comparing results with the independently verified SPK kernel conversion.

Strengths

• Uses official NASA CCSDS OEM ephemeris data as the source, ensuring authoritative trajectory information.
• SPK kernel conversion was verified with state vector differences at machine epsilon (~10⁻¹⁵ km) across 1000 sample points.
• Closest lunar approach altitude of 6,547 km matches NASA's official published value.

Limitations

• The core planetary ephemeris kernel (de430.bsp, 114 MB) required for full context is not included in the 51.5 MB package.
• Dataset scale is limited to a single mission's trajectory data.
• Interactive visualizations require specific Python libraries (spiceypy, plotly, numpy) to regenerate.

Provenance

Source

NASA/JSC/FOD/FDO official CCSDS OEM ephemeris data.

Collection Method

Converted from OEM to NAIF SPICE SPK format using oem2spk and verified with mkspk.

Time Range

Trajectory from 2026-04-04 to Earth Interface (EI).

Freshness

Covers the planned Artemis II mission timeframe, with data published in April 2026.

Geography

Trajectory between Earth and Moon.