The Ground Pointing feature is designed to point toward a ground station during the orbit. It is possible to define multiple Ground Pointing features.

Select an option from the Position defined by list: Coordinates (default) or any Ambient Properties defined under Definitions and with Ambient data set to Meteorological data (ASHRAE 2013), Meteorological data (ASHRAE 2017), or Meteorological data (ASHRAE 2021). When selected from this list, the position of the ground station is set to the Weather station selected in the Ambient Properties node under Definitions.

If Coordinates is selected, define the Latitude and Longitude (SI unit radians, default value 0 deg) of the ground station.

Selected any of the available Event indicator options to define the criteria that defines when the spacecraft begins to be on target and when it goes out of target.

When Elevation angle is selected enter the value for the Threshold (SI unit radians, default value 0 deg) to define the on target and out of target positions.

When Ranging is selected, define the Threshold (SI unit m, default value 0 km) that corresponds to the distance to the target that defines the limit between the on target and out target regions.

Use the User defined option to enter an expression for the Event indicator and for the Threshold.

For all types of Event indicator you can select the Point to target for a specified time checkbox. When this is selected the Axes and Orientation out of Target settings are applied at the end of the specified period instead of when the trigger condition is not longer verified.

The Primary axis orientation is automatically defined from the ground point direction. Define the Secondary axis orientation from the corresponding checkbox.

The Rotations about the primary, secondary, and tertiary axis can be either set to None, Angular position (SI unit radians, default value 0 deg), or Angular rate (SI unit radians per second, default value 0 deg/s). Note that the fas tumbling option is always disabled when the ground station is on target.

When the Event indicator is no longer active or the Pointing time is elapsed, the spacecraft is no longer pointing to the station. Set the Fast tumbling checkbox to control whether the fast tumbling approximation (see Initial Orientation) is active or not when the spacecraft goes out of target. Select an Axes feature and a Orientation feature to define the out of target spacecraft pointing and orientation.

Physics tab with Orbital Thermal Loads selected: