The Missile Object

The Missile object models the properties and behavior of a vehicle following an elliptical path that begins and ends at the surface of the central body. Select one or more of the following to model a missile, impose constraints, and define the missile's subobjects:

Basic Properties

Property Description
Trajectory Define the path that the missile will follow by selecting and defining one of the following propagators:
Ballistic Defines the missile following an elliptical path that begins and ends at the Earth's surface.
StkExternal Allows you to read the ephemeris for the missile from a file. The file must be in ephemeris file format (*.e).
TwoBody Two-Body is an analytical propagator that generates ephemeris by evaluating a formula. Two-Body's formula is exact (that is, the formula generates the known solution for a missile moving about a central body considering only the effect of the body viewed as a point mass) but is not an accurate model of a missile's actual force environment.
HPOP The High-Precision Orbit Propagator (HPOP) uses numerical integration of the differential equations of motions to generate ephemeris. Several different force modeling effects can be included in the analysis, including a full gravitational field model (based upon spherical harmonics), third-body gravity, atmospheric drag and solar radiation pressure. The default initial altitude for a missile using the HPOP propagator is 100 km, to allow for accurate drag modeling.
RealTime Allows you to propagate missile ephemeris using near-real-time data received using a Connect socket.

You can also position the missile by clicking anywhere in the 2D Graphics window. If you use the mouse in the 2D Graphics window to specify the position of the missile, be sure that the Trajectory properties page is open. You do not need to click OK or Apply after you have positioned the object in the 2D Graphics window. You will need to click OK or Apply if you have made any other changes on the Trajectory properties page. For more information on setting object properties using the mouse, see Mouse Shortcuts.

Note: Users interested in end-to-end trajectories including boost phase, missile intercepts, and/or missile defense architecture performance should explore STK Missile Modeling Tools (STK/MMT). For designers and analysts of ballistic missiles, kinetic interceptors, sensor systems, and integrated missile defense architectures, STK/MMT provides key analysis capability via user interfaces that minimize expertise requirements without sacrificing modeling fidelity.
Attitude Define an attitude profile for the missile.
Ground Ellipses Add a set of ellipses for the missile.
EOIR Shape Specify EOIR image generation properties for the missile.
EOIR Stage Specify EOIR image properties for a single stage missile.
SEET

SEET property pages allow values to be entered that affect calculations involving the space environment as modeled by the STK/SEET Space Environmental Effects Tool:

  • Environment. Set parameters that affect the magnetic field model, and the entrance and exit times and probable fluxes due to a vehicle crossing the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), a region of space with an enhanced concentration of ionizing radiation.
  • Thermal. Set material properties and average Earth albedo that affect the determination of vehicle temperature exposed to direct solar and reflected Earth radiation.
  • Particle Flux. Set parameters that affect the determination of the level of (damaging) exposure due to meteroids and debris particles.
  • Radiation. Set parameters that affect the expected ionizing dose rate and energetic particle fluxes due to the trapped electron and proton populations, as well as integrated total dose and fluence (flux integrated over time).

STK/SEET radiation computations are also affected by scenario-level settings.
Description Record useful information about the missile.

2D Graphics Properties

Property Description
Attributes Define color, line style and other graphics characteristics for the missile, and opt whether to inherit or override global attributes defined at the Scenario level.
Trajectory Define the graphical display of the missile's trajectory in the 2D Graphics window.
Contours Define elevation angle contours in the 2D Graphics window.
Range Define range contours representing the various regions of the surface that can see an object at the specified level.
Lighting Define the graphical display of lighting conditions for the missile during animation.
Swath Calculate and graphically display swath for the vehicle.
Ground Ellipses Set the display graphics for a ellipse set defined on the Basic Ground Ellipse page for the missile.
SEET Environment

Set parameters that affect the display of the magnetic field and the contours of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) in relation to the vehicle, as modeled by the STK/SEET Space Environmental Effects Tool.

3D Graphics Properties

Property Description
Trajectory Control the display of missile trajectories.
Trajectory System Set the reference frame or frames used for displaying vehicle trajectories.
Attitude Sphere The Attitude Sphere is a visualization aid that when combined with vector display constitutes a powerful tool for displaying the object's attitude and for tracking attitude changes over time.
Vector Control the display of vectors and other geometric elements related to the missile.
Proximity Control the position of the missile in the 3D Graphics window.
Drop Lines Define the display of lines between a missile's trajectory (the actual path that a missile follows) and the central body.
Covariance Define the graphical display of a 3D ellipsoid.
Model Specify a model to represent the missile in the 3D Graphics window, and then scale the model and adjust the position of any model articulations.
Offsets Position a model and marker representing a missile in the 3D Graphics window by offsetting the object from its reference frame.
Contours Define elevation angle contours in the 3D Graphics window.
Range Display range contours for the missile. Range contours display in accordance with the values set for the 3D Graphics Range Contours for the object.
Model Pointing Point parts of the missile model toward a target, such as the Sun or Earth.
Data Display Display dynamic data for the missile in the 3D Graphics window.
Vapor Trail Add a vapor trail to the missile.

Constraints

Property Description
Basic Impose a variety of standard access constraints (azimuth and elevation angle and rate, range and range rate, propagation delay, etc.) from the missile to another object.
Sun Impose a variety of access constraints from the missile to another object based on the position of the Sun and the Moon.
Temporal Impose time-based access constraints from the missile to another object.
Advanced Impose several advanced access constraints (grazing angle and altitude, doppler cone angle, solar beta angle, etc.) from the missile to another object.
Zones Use inclusion and exclusion zones to define areas where access is or is not allowed.
Targeting Define the relationship between the missile and its target in terms of cross-track range, in-track range and squint angle.
Vector Constrain access computations with respect to any valid vector or angle.
Special Special access constraints are defined in terms of geostationary belt exclusion, height above horizon, terrain grazing angle, and exclusion of other scenario objects.
CAT Turn off the time slip constraint that is automatically set by the Close Approach Tool when its launch window capability is utilized.
Search/Track

Radar Search/Track Constraints property pages allow minimum and maximum values to be entered for several parameters and presents a variety of doppler options:

  • Search/Track. These parameters correspond to the radar's main channel. These parameters account for the polarization mismatch, if polarization is selected on the Basic Polarization page.
  • ST w/Jamming. These parameters correspond to the main channel radar receiver that is under the influence of jamming. When the radar receiver polarization is set and the jammers are polarized, the search/track parameters take polarization mismatch into account. Most of these parameters are re-computed under the impact of jamming on the radar receiver main channel. For more information on the effects of jamming on constraints, see Constraints with Jamming.
  • S/T OrthoPol. These parameters correspond to the radar's orthogonal polarization channel.
  • S/T OrthoPolJam. These parameters correspond to the radar's orthogonal polarization channel under the threat of jamming.

The STK/Radar SAR computation and constraints can be extended with the Search/Track plug-in constraint. See Search Track User Plugin.
SAR

SAR property pages allow for the imposition of a variety of constraints on synthetic aperture (SAR) radar.

  • SAR. These parameters correspond to the main channel (SAR).
  • SAR w/Jamming. These parameters correspond to the main channel under jamming. For more information on the effects of jamming on constraints, see Constraints with Jamming.
  • SAR OrthoPol. These parameters are enabled when the receiver side orthogonal polarization is selected.
  • SAR OrthoPolJam. These parameters are enabled when the receiver side orthogonal polarization is selected. For more information on the effects of jamming on constraints, see Constraints with Jamming.

The STK/Radar SAR computation and constraints can be extended with the Search/Track plug-in constraint. See SAR User Plugin.
Plugins An interface is provided for defining custom constraints in terms of user-supplied scripts created in Perl, VBScript, and MATLAB.
SEET Special access constraints are imposed based on relationships of the vehicle with, and the effects of, the space environment as modeled by the STK/SEET Space Environmental Effects Tool (e.g., debris and meteroid fluxes, radiation fluxes, vehicle temperature, magnetic field, etc.).

Subobjects

You can attach the following subobjects to a missile: