General Information About SPICE FRAMES Kernels ============================================== In the SPICE system, the FRAMES kernel contains information required to define various reference frames specific to a particular mission, sources of orientation and origin location information for these frames, and inter-connections between these frames and other, generic frames supported within the SPICE system. Frequently FKs also contain mission-specific NAIF body name to ID mappings. The frame definitions information contained in the file can be utilized by a collection of subroutines to provide correct interpretation for the SPICE data from SP- and C-kernels. These subroutines are part of the SPICE library, the principal component of the SPICE Toolkit. For information on the SPICE Toolkit and/or how to obtain it, please consult SPICE_INST.CAT and SOFT.CAT. Refer to the FRAMES.REQ document provided with the Toolkit to get more information about definition and usage of the frames within SPICE system. Mars Express FK Files ===================== This file describes the contents of the DATA/FK directory of the Mars Express SPICE data set. The files describing the frames of the spacecraft and its instruments are produced manually with the information supplied by the MARS EXPRESS teams. Other FK files (for tracking stations) are provided specifically for the Radio Science investigation. All FK files (*.TF) contained in this directory are UNIX text files with lines terminated by only. Mars Express FRAMES Kernels Contained in this Data Set ====================================================== Note that when more than one version of a kernel is available in this data set, the most recent supersedes all the others, and therefore it should be used. The following Mars Express FRAMES kernels are provided in this data set: EARTH_TOPO_yymmdd.TF SPICE Kernel (FK) that contains definitions for the topocentric reference frames for the Deep Space Network (DSN) stations. This kernel was released on YY-MM-DD. EARTHFIXEDIAU.TF SPICE Kernel (FK) that contains association that makes the IAU_EARTH frame coincide with the earth fixed reference frame. ESTRACK_Vxx.TF SPICE Kernel (FK) that contains definitions for topocentric reference frames for each of the ESA ESTRACK ground stations. EARTHSTNS_RU_YYYYMMDD.TF SPICE Kernel (FK) that contains definitions for topocentric reference frames for the Russian ground stations. MEX_Vvv.TF SPICE Kernel (FK) that contains the complete set of frame definitions for the Mars Express Spacecraft (MEX) and Beagle-2 Lander (BEAGLE2) including definitions for the MEX fixed and MEX science instrument frames and BEAGLE2 fixed, and landing site local frames. This kernel also contains NAIF ID/name mapping for the MEX and BEAGLE2 instruments. MEX_PFS_ROIS_Vvv.TF SPICE Kernel (FK) that contains a set of Mars Express regions of interest locations frame definitions for PFS. MEX_RELAY_LOCATIONS_Vvv.TF SPICE Kernel (FK) that contains a set of Mars Express relay locations frame definitions for selected Rovers and Landers. MEX_DSK_SURFACES_Vvv.TF SPICE Kernel (FK) that contains surface name-ID mappings for the Mars Express structures DSKs surfaces. MEX_SCI_Vvv.TF SPICE Kernel (FK) that contains definitions for a number of generic frames used by the MEX mission for Science opportunities identification, data analysis and scientific research. RSSDvvvv.TF SPICE Kernel (FK) that contains definition for a number of mission independent frames that could be used by any of the users of any of the ESA planetary missions and that are not built in the SPICE toolkit. The following frames related to Mars are implemented: Mars Mean Equator of Date (MME), Mars-centric Solar Orbital of Date (MSO) and Mars Mean Equator of date J2000 (MME2000). Kernel File Details =================== The most detailed description of the data in an FK file is provided in metadata included inside the description area of the file. This information can be viewed using any text editor program. At least a basic knowledge of the SPICE system is needed in order to use these kernels. The SPICE Toolkit provides versions in Fortran (SPICELIB), C (CSPICE), IDL (Icy), Matlab (Mice), and Java (JNISpice) and the user can choose any one that suits him/her. The SPICE routine FURNSH can be used to load a kernel file into a SPICE-based application to make kernel data usable with SPICE APIs. If two (or more) text kernels assign value(s) using the '=' operator to identical keywords, the data value(s) associated with the last loaded occurrence of the keyword are used -all earlier values have been replaced with the last loaded value(s).