The initial days…

Hi there! I am Yash, and I will be spending this summer with poliastro as part of GSoC 2021 to add some event detection capabilities. It was around December when I first learned about poliastro, and it gradually got me fascinated by orbital mechanics.

While preparing to make my first pull request, poliastro's comprehensive documentation and tutorials came to the rescue! It was much needed for a beginner like me who had just stepped into the field of Astrodynamics. This was a period when I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the community and learning orbital mechanics while simultaneously learning the best practices in software development.

Building up ideas and our aspirations for this summer!

After deciding to submit a proposal for the event detection project, I started brainstorming and looking for several references keeping in mind their relevance in poliastro. During this period, JuanLu and Jorge's suggestions proved invaluable. As a result, I came up with nine event detectors that I thought would be a good addition.

There were so many things for me to explore in this field! One such topic that intrigued me and kept me tinkering with the code for several weeks was the streamlined execution of algorithms. The project that we'd be working on would require implementing several algorithms from literature, and I am super excited to be working on it! We believe these event detectors would provide users with beneficial information of scientific interest and pave the way for formulating effective space strategies and orbital design and maintenance policies.

Apart from this, several discussions are going on in the community meetings regarding solving some critical issues, working on enhancements in the library, and implementing some exciting ideas to incorporate in poliastro. I also hope to contribute to it along the way…

Needless to say, this is a place where I would get to interact with an engaging community and learn several things. I'm looking forward to a thrilling summer ahead, and I can't wait to start coding!