Calculations needed for determining time and angle of launch for spacecraft to ensure interception of targets like planets are complex and inefficient to compute by hand. Modeling algorithms for spacecraft like a Runge-Kutta are usually time-step processes that are convenient for computer computation but not human. By programming a Runge-Kutta method and applying it to a spacecraft over a time period, a date and angle for a launch can be accurately and efficiently calculated.
Libraries needed to run my program include: <stdio.h> <stdlib.h> <io.h>
To install this program, simply paste the source code into any environment with a C++ compiler. Then compile and run it with whatever tools are given. Instructions detailing inputs required will be in the command line and that's where inputs should be entered.
When running the program, columns of data will appear in whatever I/O menu your environment has. In addition, the program will generate a file of the travel path of the spacecraft in xyz coordinates in astronomical units titled spacecraft.txt .