Programming Question Tensors and metrics

[mrlucmorin]

Hi all,

I'm getting interested in trying to build a basic understanding of the notions of tensors and metrics. I know they're not basic math level objects, but rather complicated (at least from my current POV).

I searched the Github repo for those words, and I do get some results, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how they're used in Orbiter.

Could someone, with knowledge about how they're specifically used in Orbiter, shed some light on this topic?

Please, ELI5

Best regards

 

[Gondos]

Orbiter does not model General Relativity so no metric tensor is in use, just plain old newtonian mechanics...

 

[Urwumpe]

Orbiter does not model General Relativity so no metric tensor is in use, just plain old newtonian mechanics...

Orbiter does use inertia tensors though. But in a much simplified way, for example we are just interested in the diagonal elements of the tensor and assume that the off-diagonal components are zero.

But I wonder then, what the actual question is and how metrics get into this, because Orbiter does explain its use of the principal moments of inertia (PMI) tensor quite accurate in the API reference.

 

[Gondos]

Orbiter does use inertia tensors though. But in a much simplified way, for example we are just interested in the diagonal elements of the tensor and assume that the off-diagonal components are zero.

But I wonder then, what the actual question is and how metrics get into this, because Orbiter does explain its use of the principal moments of inertia (PMI) tensor quite accurate in the API reference.

Seeing metric and tensors made me think of general relativity but yeah the question is not clear.

 

[mrlucmorin]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, the question was not very precise, as mentioned, I'm just getting interested in the topic of metrics and tensors, and simply wanted to see if, and possibly how, they were used in Orbiter.

The answers satisfy me.

Cheers