ESA uses Celestia

[Malenfant]

See, that looks like a proper mission control there...

[Cham]

[ElChristou]

Really cool!

[ormstont]

Ok, for anyone interested in contacting me to learn more about ESA using Celestia etc. I realised my e-mail was not on my profile! Sorry, to everyone, it should now appear on there.

Thanks too for the comments, glad you like our main control room, our routine control room is actually a bit smaller (put a pic below). Unfortunately this pic is one of the few times the big plasma screen doesn't have our Celestia plots up!

[tech2000]

Well Selden, before you lock this thread I would like to thank ormstont for presenting the photos and would like to take the opportunity to ask in what way do ESA use Celestia?

Thanks, Anders

[Cham]

would like to take the opportunity to ask in what way do ESA use Celestia?

Thanks, Anders

Yes, this is interesting. Why are they using Celestia ?

[selden]

At Chris' request, I've deleted the inappropriate postings.


My understanding is that some departments in ESA use Celestia as part of their mission planning processes. Of course, it's also used to create images for some of their public outreach Web pages.

The page
http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/mission_anal ... erview.htm
lists several of the planning tools that they use, including Celestia.

The page
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMS2E374OD_index_1.html
is one of many Mars Express pages which display images generated by Celestia.

[danielj]

Your model is not in this link.
Only Star Wars,Stonehege and Mimas...

Unfortunately the model for 'Spirit' has a few errors when it is translated into Celestia (although it looks fine in 3DS MAX),so I've fixed them.I also changed the SSC slightly because in Celestia 1.3.1 the radius of mars is different to that in the Nasa package so the models were under the surface.If anyone wants to download my new version they can get it here
http://www.geocities.com/jestrjestr/extras
It's called 'Mer.zip'.I've also added some new textures as they seem to be missing from Nasa download.Cheers Jestr

[ormstont]

Hi again everyone...first of all sorry the picture links stopped working, think I've fixed that now.

Also, thanks to an e-mail from Jestr I'd also like to extend thanks to Mario Rossi of Space-Graphics.com who provided Jestr the original Mars map images.

The question of what we use Celestia for has no simple answer..in fact the times we've most appreciated it have been occaisions we never imagined it would be used in (the serendipity effect)! Also I know various parts of the Agency (such as the ACT pointed out by selden) use Celestia for a range of things.

Here on Mars Express we use it of course for public relations, producing images and videos of our operations. We also always have Celestia up in the control room to provide a quick look at where we are in our orbit. We also use it for investigating future issues, such as the line-up of planets early next year that will tie up a lot of our ground station coverage. Celestia is also a great independent check of our predictions and products for upload to the spacecraft. Just this week I caught a problem in my calculations for our upcoming conjunction season by looking at Celestia!

I'm going to work with trying to expand our use of Celestia even further as I'm sure it will be a key tool in future ops at ESOC.

[Spaceman Spiff]

At Chris' request, I've deleted the inappropriate postings.

It's OK, matter resolved...

Spiff.

[ElChristou]

At Chris' request, I've deleted the inappropriate postings.

Selden,

Post edited....

Spiff.

Mmmh... I also miss this passage but I suppose there is nothing to say about it...

[osmium]

Thanks to Ormstont for a clarification of the topic of this thread,

Sorry I haven't been around of late (Hi all!).

It is a shame that this forum & ESA did not link up sooner in a more diplomatic way (or NASA..).

Nice Pics....can we see some more?

Cheers

Os.

[ElChristou]

It would be nice to have a note about the use of Celestia by Nasa/ESA on the official site...

[ormstont]

Hi again everyone, just thought you might be interested to know we just posted another shot on our website from Celestia. Go check it out at http://www.esa.int, or for the full story go to http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMRSP8LURE_0.html.

I've copied the picture below, it's actually a Mars render from Celestia but with the Sun and spacecraft added afterwards (a tradeoff between realism and needing to make a 'Wow" factor!). I also made sure that the web team put credits to ESA and Celestia. Enjoy!

[osmium]

Thanks Ormstont,

Nice pic! ,

I appreceiate your explanation for the modification of the Celestia image, my only critisism (and so far mine alone..) is that to my eyes the Mars texture remains the only really valid "Wow" factor in the graphic!....(please pass this on to your relevant internal departments )

In any case you are the Celestians' link into ESA therefore by default you are ESA's ambassador for us' and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you and extend a thank you for your involvement and help.

I am personally very excited that ESA are aware of and use Celestia as they do.

Thanks

Osmium

[Joe]

It would be nice to have a note about the use of Celestia by Nasa/ESA on the official site...

Nice point!

I also made sure that the web team put credits to ESA and Celestia. Enjoy!

Very encouraging, good news!