siderust 0.9.0

High-precision astronomy and satellite mechanics in Rust.
Documentation

Siderust

Crates.io Docs.rs CI License: AGPL-3.0-only

Typed astronomy & satellite mechanics in safe Rust.

Siderust provides ephemerides, coordinate transforms, time-scale handling, and orbit-analysis building blocks for scientific applications. The primary Rust implementation avoids unsafe; allocation behavior depends on the enabled subsystems and is documented at the module level. External reference fixtures are being expanded, so scientific claims should be read against the validation tests that ship with the crate.

Table of Contents

  1. Supported Feature Flags
  2. Features
  3. Installation
  4. Coordinate Systems
  5. Units & Physical Quantities
  6. Quick Start
  7. Examples
  8. Crate Layout
  9. Roadmap
  10. Contributing
  11. License
  12. Acknowledgments

Supported Feature Flags

Feature Default What it enables
serde ✔ Serialize / Deserialize on public types (default)
(base) VSOP87 + ELP2000-82B analytical ephemerides, full coordinate/altitude API
atmosphere Atmospheric tables and radiative transfer helpers
photometry Photometric passbands and throughput unit (Johnson–Cousins UBVRI)
spice High-level SPICE kernel context (SpiceContext, KernelSet)
pod Precise Orbit Determination toolkit (WLS, EKF, force models, I/O)
pod-parquet Parquet residuals writer (implies pod)
pod-doris DORIS RINEX observation parser (implies pod)
runtime-data Runtime dataset-loading helpers via siderust-archive

Note: no_std and f128 quad‑precision are not supported today. The crate depends on std‑only libraries such as chrono. Sub‑crates qtty and qtty-core do offer no_std support independently. C ABI bindings live in the separate siderust-ffi crate rather than a siderust feature flag.

Features

Category What you get
Coordinate Systems Position and spherical Direction types parameterised by ReferenceCenter, ReferenceFrame, and Unit. Compile‑time guarantees prevent mixing frames by accident.
Target Tracking Target<T> couples any coordinate with an observation epoch and optional ProperMotion, enabling extrapolation & filtering.
Physical Units Strongly typed Mass, Length, Angle, Velocity, Duration & more via the qtty crate, dimensional correctness at compile time.
Celestial Mechanics VSOP87 & ELP2000 theories, Pluto (Meeus/Williams), light‑time & aberration, nutation & precession, apparent Sun & Moon, culmination searches, SGP4/TLE propagation.
Ephemeris Backends Pluggable Ephemeris / DynEphemeris traits: Vsop87Ephemeris (always available) and RuntimeEphemeris for JPL DE4xx BSP files at runtime.
Altitude API Unified AltitudePeriodsProvider trait for Sun, Moon, stars, and arbitrary ICRS directions, find crossings, culminations, altitude ranges, and above/below‑threshold periods.
Catalogs & Bodies Built‑in Sun→Neptune, asteroids (Ceres, Bennu, Apophis), comets (Halley, Encke, Hale-Bopp), a starter star catalog, + helpers for custom datasets.
Observatories Predefined sites (Roque de los Muchachos, El Paranal, Mauna Kea, La Silla) with ObserverSite for topocentric transforms.

Coordinate algebra and reusable conic geometry are provided by affn; Kepler-equation solving and domain-neutral conic propagation live in keplerian; siderust adds astronomy-specific time, frame transforms, ephemeris backends, and body/observer orchestration on top.

API Design Pillars

Siderust is built on two cross-cutting principles documented in doc/conventions.md:

  1. Typed quantities everywhere. Every scalar that has physical meaning — pressures, scale heights, optical depths, airmasses, albedos, illumination fractions, CIP coordinates — is a qtty newtype. Passing a raw f64 where a Hectopascals or Kilometers is expected is a compile-time error.

  2. Phantom-typed model selection. Algorithm variants (e.g. nutation models) are selected at the call site via zero-sized phantom type parameters such as to_frame_as::<EquatorialFrame, Iau2006A>(jd). There are no runtime enums to match on. Dispatch is fully monomorphised.

Astrometry Compliance Note

  • Stellar aberration uses the full special-relativistic (Lorentz) formula per IERS Conventions (2020, §7.2); annual uses VSOP87E barycentric Earth velocity and topocentric adds a diurnal ω×r term.
  • The Earth-orientation chain now exposes public frame transforms for GCRS ↔ CIRS ↔ TIRS ↔ ITRF/ECEF, plus the usual inertial and operational frames (ICRS, ICRF, EME2000, TEME, Galactic, planetary body-fixed).
  • Local orbital frames (RTN, LVLH, VNC) and covariance transport in those frames are first-class via [astro::dynamics::frames::LocalOrbitalFrame] and [astro::dynamics::covariance::StateCovariance], built from a typed [OrbitState].

Scientific Archive (submodule)

Large scientific datasets — VSOP87, IAU 2000A nutation, ELP2000-82B, Sun-Earth Lagrange Chebyshev kernels, SPICE time/frame/constants kernels, and dataset generators/validators — live in the separate Siderust/archive repository, attached here as the archive/ git submodule.

After cloning Siderust, initialise the submodule:

git submodule update --init --recursive

All archive metadata uses TOML (MANIFEST.toml, per-family manifest.toml). Binary payloads use their authoritative formats (SPICE .bsp, Siderust Chebyshev Kernel .sck, raw .dat). The archive layout, manifest schema, and regeneration recipes are documented in archive/README.md and archive/schema/archive-manifest-v1.md.

The default siderust build does not require a separate archive checkout. Large scientific datasets (VSOP87, ELP2000, nutation, gravity, atmosphere, Pluto) are embedded via the siderust-archive crate which is a regular Cargo dependency. JPL DE4xx kernels are resolved at runtime from the local filesystem or downloaded on demand via runtime-data.

Installation

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
siderust = "0.9"

VSOP87/ELP2000 coefficients, nutation tables, and EOP data are provided by siderust-archive (scientific datasets, manifests, checksums, provenance) and tempoch (UTC/TAI/TT/UT1/TDB time scales, ΔT, and EOP freshness). Optional JPL kernels are downloaded on demand when the corresponding feature is enabled; see doc/datasets.md.

Ephemeris Backends

Siderust always includes Vsop87Ephemeris (VSOP87 + ELP2000-82B). Compile-time DefaultEphemeris is an alias to VSOP87.

JPL DE440/DE441 (and other NAIF BSP kernels) are provided at runtime via RuntimeEphemeris:

[dependencies]
siderust = { version = "0.9", features = ["runtime-data"] }

use siderust::ephemeris::{DynEphemeris, RuntimeEphemeris};
use siderust::time::JulianDate;

let eph = RuntimeEphemeris::from_bsp("/path/to/de440.bsp")?;
let earth = eph.earth_heliocentric(JulianDate::J2000);

With runtime-data, siderust_archive::jpl::DatasetManager can download kernels on first use (see example 12_runtime_ephemeris).

VSOP87-only (explicit):

[dependencies]
siderust = { version = "0.9", default-features = false }

Combine with other features (for example serde):

[dependencies]
siderust = { version = "0.9", features = ["runtime-data", "serde"] }

JPL datasets (runtime, not compile-time features)

DE kernels are not embedded at compile time. Typical files:

  • de440.bsp (~120 MB)
  • de441_part-2.bsp (~1.65 GB)

Prefetch into a persistent cache (optional):

export SIDERUST_DATASETS_DIR="$HOME/.cache/siderust"
# from an archive checkout:
../archive/scripts/prefetch_datasets.sh --de440

cargo test --all-features does not download JPL kernels by itself. Use cargo test --features runtime-data when exercising download paths, or point SIDERUST_BSP_PATH at a local BSP for integration tests (see tests/test_jpl_real_backend.rs).

CI sets SIDERUST_JPL_STUB=all for deterministic --all-features jobs. For local parity:

SIDERUST_JPL_STUB=all cargo test --all-features

Real-kernel validation (manual / optional workflow):

SIDERUST_BSP_PATH=/path/to/de440.bsp cargo test --test test_jpl_real_backend
SIDERUST_BSP_PATH=/path/to/de440.bsp cargo bench --bench de441

Coverage:

  • Fallible JPL APIs such as try_position, try_velocity, and try_position_velocity return an error outside the Chebyshev segment coverage.
  • The legacy infallible JPL APIs are retained for compatibility and panic with an explicit out-of-range message instead of silently extrapolating.
  • Earth-orientation lookups are keyed by UTC/MJD. The default IERS provider uses tempoch's bundled EOP data and reports missing coverage rather than fabricating zero EOP values. Use NullEop only when a documented zero-EOP approximation is intended.

Coordinate Systems

Siderust encodes both the origin and the orientation of every coordinate at the type level:

use siderust::coordinates::{cartesian, centers::*, frames::*};
use qtty::Au;

// Position of Mars in the Heliocentric Ecliptic frame
let mars_helio = cartesian::Position::<Heliocentric, EclipticMeanJ2000, Au>::new(1.5, 0.0, 0.0);

Impossible states (e.g. adding heliocentric and geocentric positions) simply do not compile.

The public frame set includes:

  • inertial / catalogue frames: ICRS, ICRF, EquatorialMeanJ2000, EME2000, EquatorialMeanOfDate, EquatorialTrueOfDate, FK4B1950, Galactic
  • Earth-rotation chain frames: GCRS, CIRS, TIRS, ITRF, ECEF
  • operational / mission frames: TEME, Horizontal, and the planetary body-fixed frames

Compile-Time vs Runtime Safety

For most centers (Barycentric, Heliocentric, Geocentric) all invariants are enforced at compile time with zero runtime cost (Params = ()).

Parameterized centers (Topocentric, Bodycentric) carry runtime data (e.g., ObserverSite). The center type is still checked at compile time, but parameter equality (e.g., "are these two positions at the same site?") is checked at runtime:

API Behaviour on mismatch
pos_a - pos_b / distance_to assert! (panics in all builds)
checked_sub / try_distance_to Returns Err(CenterParamsMismatchError)
ObserverSite::try_new Validates lat/lon ranges, returns Result

Units & Physical Quantities

Siderust uses the qtty crate for dimensionally typed quantities. The compiler prevents mixing incompatible units:

use qtty::*;

let distance = AstronomicalUnits::new(1.523); // Mars semi-major axis
let period   = Days::new(686.97);

// distance + period → compile error (length + time)

Common unit types: AstronomicalUnit (Au), Kilometer (Km), Meter, Degree, Radian, Day, Second, AuPerDay, and many more.

Quick Start

use siderust::{
    bodies::Mars,
    time::JulianDate,
};
use chrono::prelude::*;

// 1. Select an epoch (UTC now → JD)
let jd = JulianDate::from_utc(Utc::now());

// 2. Compute barycentric ecliptic coordinates via VSOP87
let mars = Mars::vsop87e(jd);

// 3. Print Mars's barycentric ecliptic position
println!("{}", mars.position);

Examples

The examples/ directory is a curated tour of the crate’s major building blocks (coordinates, transforms, altitude periods, ephemeris backends, serialization).

  • Browse: examples/README.md
  • Run one: cargo run --example 01_basic_coordinates

Feature-gated examples:

# Runtime JPL ephemeris (BSP path argument or runtime-data download)
cargo run --example 12_runtime_ephemeris -- /path/to/de440.bsp
cargo run --features runtime-data --example 12_runtime_ephemeris

# Serde
cargo run --example 11_serde_serialization --features serde

Crate Layout

├─ astro/         # Aberration, nutation, precession, sidereal time
├─ bodies/        # Planet, Star, Satellite, Asteroid, Comet + built-in catalogs
├─ calculus/
│   ├─ altitude/     # Unified altitude API (AltitudePeriodsProvider trait)
│   ├─ ephemeris/    # Ephemeris trait + VSOP87 + runtime JPL backends
│   ├─ jpl/          # Shared JPL DE4xx infrastructure (Chebyshev evaluation)
│   ├─ math_core/    # Root-finding (Brent/bisection), extrema, interval assembly
│   ├─ solar/        # Sun altitude, night/day/twilight periods
│   ├─ lunar/        # Moon altitude with topocentric parallax
│   ├─ stellar/      # Analytical star altitude engine
│   ├─ vsop87/       # VSOP87 planetary theory
│   ├─ elp2000/      # ELP2000-82B lunar theory
│   ├─ conic_equations.rs # Siderust wrappers over keplerian solvers
│   └─ pluto         # Meeus/Williams Pluto ephemeris
├─ coordinates/   # Cartesian/Spherical types, frames, centers, transforms
├─ mission/       # Mission-analysis building blocks
│   ├─ geometry/     # AzElRange, Fov, TerrainMask, eclipse, orbit-relative geometry
│   ├─ context.rs    # MissionContext — runtime aggregation of instruments and sites
│   └─ site.rs       # Location — ground-station / observing-site metadata
├─ observatories/ # Predefined observatory locations (Roque, Paranal, Mauna Kea, La Silla)
├─ targets/       # Target<T> with time & ProperMotion
└─ time           # Re-export of tempoch: JulianDate, MJD, Period<S>, time scales

Roadmap

  • Custom dynamic reference centers (topocentric, bodycentric)
  • DE440/DE441 JPL ephemerides
  • Unified altitude API (AltitudePeriodsProvider trait)
  • Serde serialization support
  • Gaia DR3 star ingestion & cone search
  • Relativistic light‑time & gravitational deflection
  • Batch orbit determination helpers (LSQ & EKF)
  • GPU acceleration via wgpu (experiment)

Contributing

Contributions of algorithms, bug fixes or docs are welcome! Please:

  1. Fork & clone (git clone)
  2. Create a feature branch
  3. Run all tests & clippy (cargo test && cargo clippy -- -D warnings)
  4. Open a PR with a clear description

By participating you agree to follow the Rust Code of Conduct.

License

Copyright (C) 2026 Vallés Puig, Ramon

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0). The AGPL-3.0 ensures that:

  • Any modifications and redistributions of the code (including as a network service) remain free and open.
  • End users have access to the full source code, including any improvements or extensions made.

Note for commercial or proprietary use: If you wish to incorporate this code into a closed-source or otherwise differently licensed project, a dual-licensing arrangement can be negotiated. Please contact the authors to discuss terms and conditions for a commercial or proprietary license that suits your needs.

Acknowledgments

Big thanks to Màrius Montón (@mariusmm) for inviting me to his three-week Rust intro course at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 2024 that nudge set this project in motion.