Install GMAT¶

gmat-run does not ship GMAT binaries. Install GMAT separately from gmat.gsfc.nasa.gov or directly from SourceForge.

Supported versions¶

GMAT version	Status
R2026a	Primary development target; exercised in CI on every PR.
R2024a, R2025a	Supported; exercised in release CI.
R2022a, R2023a	Supported on a best-effort basis.
Earlier	Not supported. gmatpy ships per-Python-minor shared libraries, and
	older releases may not match Python 3.10+.

Windows¶

Download the Windows zip from SourceForge (e.g. gmat-win-R2026a.zip).
Extract anywhere — C:\Program Files\GMAT-R2026a\ is typical.
gmat-run discovers installs under C:\Program Files\GMAT* and C:\Program Files (x86)\GMAT* automatically.

Linux¶

Download the Linux tarball (e.g. gmat-ubuntu-x64-R2026a.tar.gz).
Extract anywhere — ~/gmat-R2026a/ or /opt/gmat-R2026a/ is typical.
gmat-run discovers installs matching ~/gmat-* and /opt/gmat-* automatically.

macOS¶

Download the macOS package from SourceForge.
Install into /Applications/GMAT-R2026a/ or similar.
gmat-run discovers installs under /Applications/GMAT* automatically.

Custom location¶

If your install lives elsewhere, point gmat-run at it explicitly:

mission = Mission.load("flyby.script", gmat_root="/path/to/gmat-R2026a")

Or set the GMAT_ROOT environment variable, which gmat-run honours globally:

export GMAT_ROOT=/path/to/gmat-R2026a

Verifying the install¶

from gmat_run import locate_gmat

install = locate_gmat()
print(install.root, install.version)

If discovery fails, GmatNotFoundError lists every search location it tried and why each was rejected — paste that output verbatim when filing an install issue.

API startup file¶

On first use, gmat-run generates <install>/bin/api_startup_file.txt by running <install>/api/BuildApiStartupFile.py. This is automatic — no manual step is needed.