Add support for laser ranging file formats
It would be nice to add support in Orekit for laser ranging file formats:
- Reading measurement files in Consolidated Laser Ranging Data Format (CRD) for both normal-point and full-rate data. The NASA webpage given here also contains sample C code to parse these files. Version 2.0 of the format is finalized, but small revisions were introduced in 2.01
- Reading and writing prediction files in Consolidated Laser Ranging Prediction Format (CPF). The NASA webpage given here also contains sample C code to parse these files. Version 2.0 of the format is being finalized, so some changes in our code might be necessary once the version 2.0 is finally definitive.
- Reading station coordinates and velocity files in SINEX format
- Reading station eccentricities files in SINEX format
These file formats are not as widespread as GNSS or CCSDS formats, but it would be a good addition to Orekit, and they are standardized so the format should not change that often.
For now in my laser ranging OD example these file interfaces are written in Python, but this code is probably not bug-free. Furthermore the stations files and the full-rate CRD files are quite large, therefore we would gain in speed by parsing them in Java instead of Python.