spiceinit on recent (2024+) NAC images

[MAChertok]

ISIS version(s) affected: 8.3.0

Description
I am trying to run spiceinit on a few NAC images that were collected in 2024 and have run into an issue that returns this error: ERROR Unable to initialize camera model. I have had this issue for a few months now.

How to reproduce
Here is an example output for spiceinit on a 2024 NAC:
spiceinit from=m1470132779l.cub SPKSMITHED=TRUE spkrecon=false shape=user model=/pathtomodel/WAC_GLD100_V1.0_GLOBAL_with_LOLA_30M_POLE.16bit.lp.demprep.cub
Group = Kernels
NaifFrameCode = -85600
LeapSecond = $base/kernels/lsk/naif0012.tls
TargetAttitudeShape = ($base/kernels/pck/pck00009.tpc,
$lro/kernels/pck/moon_080317.tf,
$lro/kernels/pck/moon_assoc_me.tf)
TargetPosition = ($lro/kernels/tspk/moon_pa_de421_1900-2050.bpc,
$lro/kernels/tspk/de421.bsp)
InstrumentPointing = ($lro/kernels/ck/lrolc_2024121_2024153_v01.bc,
$lro/kernels/ck/moc42r_2024121_2024152_v01.bc,
$lro/kernels/fk/lro_frames_2014049_v01.tf)
Instrument = $lro/kernels/ik/lro_lroc_v18.ti
SpacecraftClock = $lro/kernels/sclk/lro_clkcor_2025099_v00.tsc
InstrumentPosition = Null
InstrumentAddendum = $lro/kernels/iak/lro_instrumentAddendum_v05.ti
ShapeModel = /pathtomodel/WAC_GLD100_V1.0_GLOBAL_with_L-
OLA_30M_POLE.16bit.lp.demprep.cub
InstrumentPositionQuality = Unknown
InstrumentPointingQuality = Reconstructed
CameraVersion = 2
Error = "No instrument position available"
End_Group

Possible Solution
I have tried attaching web=true in case there are web-hosted kernels that are more recent than our locally-hosted kernels and get this error: ERROR An error occurred when talking to the server. The server encountered an unexpected error.

I have tried updating the $ISISDATA by running this: downloadIsisData lro $ISISDATA -v --include="{spk/**}" but it didn't remedy the error.

Additional context
Images from 2023 and earlier do not have a Null InstrumentPosition. Usually it contains something like $lro/kernels/spk/LRO_XXXXX.BSP
Here's a link to an example image: https://data.lroc.im-ldi.com/lroc/view_lroc/LRO-L-LROC-2-EDR-V1.0/M1470132779LE

[amystamile-usgs]

Rather than a bug, it appears that smithed kernels are not available for this particular image time range. When SPKSMITHED=TRUE and SPKRECON=FALSE, spiceinit requires a smithed spacecraft position kernel; if none exists, this results in a Null InstrumentPosition and the “No instrument position available” error. One option is to allow reconstructed kernels as a fallback when smithed kernels are not available.

[MAChertok]

On second look, I'm noticing that the spk folder was updated following this command: downloadIsisData lro $ISISDATA -v --include="{spk/**}" but 2025 kernels were not added. I was cross-referencing with this webpage: https://imbrium.mit.edu/LRORS/DATA/SPK/
Am I using the correct command to update the folder with 2025 kernels?

[acpaquette]

Hi @MAChertok, I think you need to run downloadIsisData lro $ISISDATA -v --include="{kernels/spk/**}". The include keyword is rather finicky

[acpaquette]

@MAChertok What @amystamile-usgs suggested is correct. For whatever reason, our smithed lro spks are not sync'ed with the data hosted on the mit site. This is something we can look into since we get our lro kernels from another source

[MAChertok]

Got it! Thanks. Btw, had this output with the downloadIsisData lro $ISISDATA -v --include="{kernels/spk/**}" command, but it seems like the spk folder is updated as far as ISIS is concerned.

---

`2026/01/22 12:52:55 INFO: Can't figure out directory filters from "{kernels/spk/**}": looking in all directories

2026/01/22 12:52:55 ERROR : Local file system at /opt/miniforge3/envs/isis/data/lro: Ignoring --track-renames as it doesn't work with copy or move, only sync

2026/01/22 12:53:13 INFO: There was nothing to transfer`

[Kelvinrr]

@MAChertok just to clarify, are you specifically trying to use smithed kernels? Like what Nick Estes mentioned in the OP Slack, LRO team says to only expect reconstructed for anything newer than 2018. In which case spiceinit from=m1470132779l.cub spkrecon=true shape=user model=/pathtomodel/WAC_GLD100_V1.0_GLOBAL_with_LOLA_30M_POLE.16bit.lp.demprep.cub should work.

If there are specific kernels you want to use from the MIT website (and not just the Intuitive Machines kernels), we can look into integrating those.

[MAChertok]

So I was able to set SPKSMITHED=TRUE and spkrecon=false for any image 2023 and earlier with no error. It seems like there are smithed kernels for 2023 and earlier, but best accuracy is for pre-2018 NACs with smithed kernels? This is an example from a 2022 NAC image:

spiceinit from=m1398676163l.cub SPKSMITHED=TRUE spkrecon=false shape=user model=/pathto/WAC_GLD100_V1.0_GLOBAL_with_LOLA_30M_POLE.16bit.lp.demprep.cub
Group = Kernels
NaifFrameCode = -85600
LeapSecond = $base/kernels/lsk/naif0012.tls
TargetAttitudeShape = ($base/kernels/pck/pck00009.tpc,
$lro/kernels/pck/moon_080317.tf,
$lro/kernels/pck/moon_assoc_me.tf)
TargetPosition = ($lro/kernels/tspk/moon_pa_de421_1900-2050.bpc,
$lro/kernels/tspk/de421.bsp)
InstrumentPointing = ($lro/kernels/ck/lrolc_2022031_2022060_v01.bc,
$lro/kernels/ck/moc42r_2022031_2022059_v01.bc,
$lro/kernels/fk/lro_frames_2014049_v01.tf)
Instrument = $lro/kernels/ik/lro_lroc_v18.ti
SpacecraftClock = $lro/kernels/sclk/lro_clkcor_2025099_v00.tsc
InstrumentPosition = $lro/kernels/spk/LRO_ES_111_GRGM900C_L600.BSP
InstrumentAddendum = $lro/kernels/iak/lro_instrumentAddendum_v05.ti
ShapeModel = /pathto/WAC_GLD100_V1.0_GLOBAL_with_L-
OLA_30M_POLE.16bit.lp.demprep.cub
InstrumentPositionQuality = Smithed
InstrumentPointingQuality = Reconstructed
CameraVersion = 2
Source = ale