Procedure

   vprjp_c ( Vector projection onto plane ) 

   void vprjp_c ( ConstSpiceDouble    vin   [3],
                  ConstSpicePlane   * plane,
                  SpiceDouble         vout  [3] )

Abstract

   Project a vector onto a specified plane, orthogonally.

Required_Reading

   PLANES

Keywords

   GEOMETRY
   MATH
   PLANE
   VECTOR

Brief_I/O

   VARIABLE  I/O  DESCRIPTION
   --------  ---  --------------------------------------------------
   vin        I   Vector to be projected.
   plane      I   A SPICE plane onto which `vin' is projected.
   vout       O   Vector resulting from projection.

Detailed_Input

   vin         is a 3-vector that is to be orthogonally projected
               onto a specified plane.

   plane       is a SPICE plane that represents the geometric
               plane onto which `vin' is to be projected.

               The normal vector component of a SPICE plane has
               unit length.

Detailed_Output

   vout        is the vector resulting from the orthogonal
               projection of `vin' onto `plane'. `vout' is the closest
               point in the specified plane to `vin'.

Parameters

   None.

Exceptions

   1)  If the normal vector of the input plane does not have unit
       length (allowing for round-off error), the error
       SPICE(NONUNITNORMAL) is signaled by a routine in the call tree
       of this routine.

Files

   None.

Particulars

   Projecting a vector `vin' orthogonally onto a plane can be thought
   of as finding the closest vector in the plane to `vin'. This
   "closest vector" always exists; it may be coincident with the
   original vector.

   Two related routines are vprjpi_c, which inverts an orthogonal
   projection of a vector onto a plane, and vproj_c, which projects
   a vector orthogonally onto another vector.

Examples

   The numerical results shown for this example may differ across
   platforms. The results depend on the SPICE kernels used as
   input, the compiler and supporting libraries, and the machine
   specific arithmetic implementation.

   1) Find the closest point in the ring plane of a planet to a
      spacecraft located at a point (in body-fixed coordinates).


      Example code begins here.


      /.
         Program vprjp_ex1
      ./
      #include <stdio.h>
      #include "SpiceUsr.h"

      int main( )
      {
         /.
         Local variables.
         ./
         SpiceDouble          proj   [3];
         SpicePlane           ringpl;

         /.
         Set the spacecraft location and define the normal
         vector as the normal to the equatorial plane, and
         the origin at the body/ring center.
         ./
         SpiceDouble          scpos  [3] = { -29703.16955,
                                             879765.72163,
                                             -137280.21757 };

         SpiceDouble          norm   [3] = { 0.0, 0.0, 1.0 };

         SpiceDouble          orig   [3] = { 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 };

         /.
         Create the plane structure.
         ./
         nvp2pl_c ( norm, orig, &ringpl );

         /.
         Project the position vector onto the ring plane.
         ./
         vprjp_c ( scpos, &ringpl, proj );

         printf( "Projection of S/C position onto ring plane:\n" );
         printf( "%17.5f %16.5f %16.5f\n", proj[0], proj[1], proj[2] );

         return ( 0 );
      }


      When this program was executed on a Mac/Intel/cc/64-bit
      platform, the output was:


      Projection of S/C position onto ring plane:
           -29703.16955     879765.72163          0.00000

Restrictions

   1)  It is recommended that the input plane be created by one of
       the CSPICE routines

          nvc2pl_c ( Normal vector and constant to plane )
          nvp2pl_c ( Normal vector and point to plane    )
          psv2pl_c ( Point and spanning vectors to plane )

       In any case the input plane must have a unit length normal
       vector and a plane constant consistent with the normal
       vector.

Literature_References

   [1]  G. Thomas and R. Finney, "Calculus and Analytic Geometry,"
        7th Edition, Addison Wesley, 1988.

Author_and_Institution

   N.J. Bachman        (JPL)
   J. Diaz del Rio     (ODC Space)
   B.V. Semenov        (JPL)

Version

   -CSPICE Version 1.0.2, 24-AUG-2021 (JDR) (NJB)

       Edited the header to comply with NAIF standard. Added complete
       code example.

       Added entry #1 to -Exceptions section, and entry #1 to -Restrictions.

   -CSPICE Version 1.0.1, 01-FEB-2017 (BVS)

       Typo fix: pnv2pl_c -> nvp2pl_c.

   -CSPICE Version 1.0.0, 05-MAR-1999 (NJB)

Index_Entries

   vector projection onto plane

Link to routine vprjp_c source file vprjp_c.c