Questions on simulating spacecraft in Gazebo

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Hello all,

I've been working with Gazebo in conjunction with ROS recently to develop software for a robotic spacecraft with the goal of this project is to make it simpler to develop software for robotic spacecraft. I've managed to run through a large portion of the Gazebo and ROS tutorials and developed a simple thrust control system and simulation setup for the spacecraft.

There are a few things lacking in my simulation and moving forward, I want to increase the capabilities and visualization accuracy of my simulation. More specifically, I have the following questions:

• What are the limitations on the size of the Gazebo World? Is it feasible to use Gazebo to model simple orbital dynamics for a spacecraft, for instance orbiting a single planet?
• For a more accurate visualization of the sim, I want a backdrop of space with stars and celestial bodies. Do you have any recommendations on doing this?
• I've developed a thruster plugin that mimics the forces created by RCS thrusters, but want to visualize the gas exiting the thruster? Is Gazebo capable of this, or are there any workarounds? Here's a picture from Kerbal Space Program of the same effect: link text

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

James