A History of Copernicus: The Origin, Development, and Evolution of JSC’s Spacecraft Trajectory Design and Optimization System

This paper describes the history of the Copernicus spacecraft trajectory design and optimization system, a software tool originally developed at The University of Texas at Austin by Dr. Cesar Ocampo, and then later at the NASA Johnson Space Center. For twenty years, Copernicus has been a workhorse tool for advanced mission design at JSC. During this time, the tool has been under constant development and has evolved significantly. The origin, development, and use of Copernicus is detailed, and some lessons learned and future possibilities are also presented.