Python Bindings Status

[Mtrya]

Hi @ChristopherRabotin and Nyx community!

First, thank you for the incredible work on Nyx.

I noticed that issue #311 about Python bindings was opened in June 2024. Since then, version 2.2.0 has been released (congratulations!), but the Python package on PyPI is still at 2.0.0b0 and installation via pip appears to be non-functional.

Questions:

1. What is the current status of Python bindings? Are they planned for a future release?
2. Is this still an active priority, or have project directions shifted?
3. Would community contributions toward Python bindings be welcomed?

What I can offer:
While I have limited Rust experience, I'm willing to learn and contribute if there's a clear roadmap or guidance available. Where I might be able to help:

• Documentation improvements
• Working on specific components under guidance
• User feedback from the Python perspective

I completely understand this is an open-source project. I'm mainly trying to understand the project direction to decide whether to:

• Wait for Python bindings to be restored
• Use Nyx directly in Rust
• Explore alternative tools temporarily

Thanks again for all your work on this excellent library!

[ChristopherRabotin]

Hi @Mtrya,

I've focused most of the past year of my open-source contributions to ANISE. However, it's now in a very good state with all of the features users and myself have requested.

Hence, I've started to work again on Nyx as of about two weeks ago. I am starting to develop a backend computation engine in Rust designed to be used from Python: there are two main ideas here. First, this will allow deployment of the backend on a powerful server for intense or long computations without minimal impact on the client machine (although the user may deploy this on their own machine directly). Second, as the copyright holder, I can decide to re-license this Nyx client from AGPL to MPL to facilitate adoption.

These upcoming features include mission sequences and explorative trajectory design. The first immediate feature will be orbit determination simulation. Let me know if there are specific features of the rust version of Nyx you'd like to see and I can try to prioritize these.

[Mtrya]

Hi @ChristopherRabotin,

Thank you for the detailed explanation! This clarifies things a lot.

I'm working on academic research, which will be completely open-source. In terms of Nyx features, mission sequences and explorative trajectory design are exactly what I'm most interested in - these would be incredibly valuable for my work. I'm also interested in 6DOF simulation (I understand that it's already discussed in discussion https://github.com/orgs/nyx-space/discussions/422)

When you mention developing "a backend computation engine in Rust designed to be used from Python," are you planning to build both the Rust computation backend, AND the Python client library (possibly "nyx_client"), or just the Rust backend? Or will the Python client be a separate future effort?

Thanks again for your work on Nyx!

[ChristopherRabotin]

Hi there,

Yes, I will be developing and releasing the client, it will take over the existing pypi project.

Attitude and 6DOF still won't be simulated, but ANISE provides great analysis capabilities for field of view, orbit frames, and other time varying DCMs but it doesn't support attitude control and actuators. But all of the simulation tools should be available for folks to implement themselves.

Best regards,
Chris