PDS_VERSION_ID = PDS3 RECORD_TYPE = STREAM OBJECT = TEXT INTERCHANGE_FORMAT = ASCII PUBLICATION_DATE = 2017-07-01 NOTE = "PC-Kernel Information" END_OBJECT = TEXT END General information about SPICE PC-kernels ========================================== In the SPICE system, the PC-kernels (PCK) contain orientation and shape information pertaining to extended solar system bodies such as the Sun, the planets, the natural satellites of the planets, comets, and asteroids. The most recent generic PC kernel file can always be obtained from NAIF/JPL. The purpose of the PCK kernels and associated software is to provide SPICE users with a convenient mechanism for supplying planetary physical constants to application programs. SPICELIB's PCK software is able to read files conforming to the PCK format and return to a calling application program both the data contained in such files and a small number of commonly used numeric quantities derived from the kernel data. Information regarding how to obtain the SPICE Toolkit for a number of languages and computer platforms is located in the ``/software'' subdirectory of the main directory of this data set. Refer to the PCK Required Reading (pck.req) document provided with the toolkit or available from the NAIF Node of PDS if SPICE toolkit is not included with this data set to get more information on how to access PC-kernel data. Venus Climate Orbiter PC-kernels Provided in This Data Set ========================================================== This directory contains PCK files used in the Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO, also known as PLANET-C and AKATSUKI) mission. The following files are present in this directory. (Only file names are shown; the file name extensions of the text PCK kernel files are always ``.tpc''): vco_gm_de431_vVV PCK file containing mass parameters used in the Venus Climate Orbiter mission. This file is based on gm_de431.tpc, created by NAIF, and then modified only GM values for Venus and Venus barycenter, where VV is the version number. pck00010 generic PCK file containing IAU 2009 rotation and shape constants for planets, satellites, and some asteroids, created by NAIF. All text PCK files provided in this data set are in UNIX text format, with a line feed character (ASCII 10) at the end of the line. If this data set contains multiple PCK files, the one with the latest version (VV) supersedes all previous versions. In most cases these two PCK files pck00010.tpc vco_gm_de431_vVV.tpc should be loaded into a user's application to process data for the science phase(s) of the mission. Kernel file details =================== The most detailed description of the data in a text PCK file is provided in metadata included inside the description area of the file. This information can be viewed using any text editor program. The most detailed description of the data in a binary PCK file is provided in metadata included inside the comment area of the file. This information can be viewed using the utility programs COMMNT and SPACIT included into the SPICE Toolkit.