Spacecrafts for Celestia

[DaveBowman2001]

The active (green) and derelict (red) satellites of the POES program

The Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) was a constellation of polar orbiting weather satellites funded by the NOAA and EUMETSAT with the intent of improving the accuracy and detail of weather analysis and forecasting

There are a total of 16 POES satellite that were launched since 1978. As of 2022, all satellites are still orbiting Earth (except NOAA-B), but only three are still active. It is planned to be eventually replaced by the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program

Model and textures by toutatis. This also serves as an update for satellites 6 to 19 by gironde, since those missions share the same satellite bus called TIROS-N

POES.zip

(1.72 MiB) Downloaded 265 times

[DaveBowman2001]

TERRIERS, also known as Explorer 76 and STEDI-2, is a student-built satellite intended to study the Earth's ionosphere. Although launched successfully by a Pegasus-XL rocket in 1999-May-18, its batteries were unable to recharge when it cannot track the Sun and therefore lost contact just two days later, resulting in a mission failure. As of 2022, it is still in orbit as a derelict object

Original addon by TERRIER. Modified the specular values of the CMOD model to make only its solar panel that is significantly reflective. Also its name is only visible until May 20, 1999 to simulate its battery failure

TERRIERS.zip

(521.35 KiB) Downloaded 262 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Fourth XYZV trajectory update to Artemis 1, which follows the current target launch date of November 14, 2022. The current mission profile will last for 25 days and spend a single orbit around the Moon before returning to Earth on December 9, 2022. As of this writing, the SLS once again rolls out to Pad 39B, hopefully for the last time for this mission lol. Trajectory data were obtained from HORIZONS

Released as part of Project Artemis, the Orion model used is from the Lunar Gateway addon.



NOTE: This update has been rendered obsolete by a delay caused by the landfall of Hurricane Nicole in Florida. The final version can be downloaded here

[gironde]

launch 67 of satellites Starlink of SpaceX
date 28-10-2022
n° 2022-141
groupe : Gr4-31
53 satellites

Starlink 67.zip

(58.7 KiB) Downloaded 190 times

[DaveBowman2001]

JUICE during the third Ganymede flyby, 2032-May-9

This update reduces the JUICE spacecraft's texture sizes from 4k to 1k, to allow faster loading whenever you visit it on Celestia. To simplify installation, this effectively replaces the previous version of this addon here by including all of its models, trajectories, and SSC files

Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer.zip

(9.44 MiB) Downloaded 264 times

NOTE: For more accurate moon encounters, download their respective HORIZONS fix XYZV trajectories here

[DaveBowman2001]

First flyby of Europa, 2031-Mar-7

Cruise to Jupiter, 2024-2030

Orbiting Jupiter, 2030-2034

Europa Clipper is a Flagship-class robotic orbiter mission designed to study Europa in a series of 53 flybys while in orbit around Jupiter. As of 2022, it is currently planned to be launched on October 2024 from a Falcon Heavy, and will arrive on Jupiter by April 2030. It will complement ESA's JUICE mission, which is also scheduled to study the Jovian system at the same time period, thereby fulfilling the objectives first proposed on the cancelled NASA/ESA mission in 2009 called the Europa-Jupiter System Mission. After the completion of its mission, by September 2034 it will intentionally crash onto Ganymede to prevent possible biocontamination of Europa from ever happening

WHAT'S NEW?
- This serves as an update to the addon made by Endeavor35 and toutatis. Model and texture credits goes to them
- The XYZV trajectories now follow the new 2021 six-year long flight profile after it is determined that there are no SLS rockets available to launch it directly to Jupiter as was planned in 2017
- Suntracking for the solar arrays are introduced, and the twin magnetometer booms are added
- For more accurate moon encounters AND to allow the simulation of its planned crash to Ganymede, download the HORIZONS trajectories for the Galilean Satellites here

Europa Clipper.zip

(8.36 MiB) Downloaded 218 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Orion MPCV in front of the Moon & its namesake constellation

The final trajectory of Artemis 1, as of 2022-Nov-16

Go Artemis! Go NASA! In celebration to the successful maiden flight of the Space Launch System, here is the fifth update to the XYZV trajectory of Artemis 1, which is now on its way to the Moon (as of this writing) on November 16, 2022. It is almost similar to the fourth update's flight profile, also lasting 25 days, which ends on a splashdown into the Pacific on December 11, 2022

Released as part of Project Artemis, the Orion model used is from the Lunar Gateway addon.

[DaveBowman2001]

A CSSHQ/Shenlong spaceplane in orbit

The Chongfu Shiyong Shiyan Hangtian Qi (CSSHQ) is the first Chinese reusable spacecraft. Little is known about the spacecraft itself due to its military nature, but unofficial reports indicate that it is a spaceplane of the Shenlong program which it is claimed that it shares similar designs and purpose with the Boeing X-37B. It first flew in a two-day test flight in 2020, followed by a long-duration flight that is ongoing since August 2022

Orbital data for the two missions were retrieved from CelesTrak

CSSHQ.zip

(592.82 KiB) Downloaded 264 times

[DaveBowman2001]

2020 SO is a spent Centaur-D stage from Surveyor 2

Lucy's booster is the 89th Centaur-III(5) stage ever launched

The Centaur is a family of liquid-fuel upper stages that are in active service since 1962. It is the first upper stage that uses liquid hydrogen as its fuel, and has been used to propel satellites and space probes to other celestial bodies like Surveyor, Voyager, MRO, Mars 2020 and others. Since 2002, a third-generation Centaur (developed by ULA) serves as the primary upper stage of the Atlas V

NOTES:
- This addon covers the first-generation (Centaur-D) and third-generation (Centaur-III) designs of the Centaur rocket only.
- Only the 61 objects that are still in orbit around the Earth and the Sun with precise orbital data known are included
- Since all of them are defunct space debris, their names are permanently hidden to simulate this, but can still be searched by entering "Centaur", "AC-", or "AV-"
- Centaur-III model by toutatis and BrianJ
- Credits to Thomas Guilpain, Art Blos, and EarthMoon for the orbital data for 2020 SO, Juno/Lucy Centaurs, and 17 Centaur-D stages from the Eccentric Satellites addon

Centaur-D.zip

(549.2 KiB) Downloaded 257 times

Centaur-3(5).zip

(8.74 MiB) Downloaded 191 times

Mark Centaur stages (script).zip

(717 Bytes) Downloaded 187 times

Marked positions of 21 Centaur-D's (RED) and 40 Centaur-III's (WHITE)

[gironde]

WARNING in addon Centaur-D and Centaur-3(5) (by Davebowman2001)


In script 'Mark Centaurs.cel'
Sol/Earth/1978-068B id written Sol/Earth/1978-065B

In Centaur-D.ssc, there is 21 Centaur, and in Centaur-3(5).ssc, there is 40 Centaur,
but in script 'Mark Centaurs.cel', there is 48 Centaur

Code: Select all

Centaur-D
      "Sol/Earth/1963-047A", -- Centaur (AC-2)
      "Sol/1966-084B", -- Centaur (Surveyor 2)
      "Sol/Earth/1968-110B", -- Centaur (OAO 2)
      "Sol/Earth/1969-069B", -- Centaur (ATS 5)
      "Sol/Earth/1971-006B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 402)
      "Sol/Earth/1971-116B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 403)
      "Sol/Earth/1972-003B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 404)
      "Sol/Earth/1972-041B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 405)
      "Sol/Earth/1972-065B", -- Centaur (OAO 3)
      "Sol/Earth/1973-058B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 407)
      "Sol/Earth/1974-093B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 408)
      "Sol/Earth/1975-042B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 401)
      "Sol/Earth/1975-091B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 4A-1)
      "Sol/Earth/1976-010B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 4A-2)
      "Sol/Earth/1976-042B", -- Centaur (Comstar 1A)
      "Sol/Earth/1976-073B", -- Centaur (Comstar 1B)
      "Sol/Earth/1978-035B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 4A-6)
      "Sol/Earth/1978-068B", -- Centaur (Comstar 1C)
      "Sol/Earth/1981-018B", -- Centaur (Comstar 1D)
      "Sol/Earth/1985-055B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 5A-11)
      "Sol/Earth/1985-087B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 5A-12)


Code: Select all

Centaur-3(5)
      "Sol/Earth/2002-038B", -- Centaur (Hot Bird 6)
      "Sol/Earth/2003-033B", -- Centaur (EchoStar 12)
      "Sol/Earth/2004-048B", -- Centaur (AMC-16)
      "Sol/2005-029B", -- Centaur (MRO)
      "Sol/Earth/2006-012B", -- Centaur (Astra-1KR)
      "Sol/Earth/2007-060B", -- Centaur (NROL-24)
      "Sol/Earth/2009-017B", -- Centaur (WGS-2)
      "Sol/Earth/LCROSS/2009-031C", -- Centaur (LRO-LCROSS)
      "Sol/Earth/2009-047B", -- Centaur (PAN)
      "Sol/Earth/2009-064B", -- Centaur (Intelsat 14)
      "Sol/Earth/2010-005B", -- Centaur (SDO)
      "Sol/Earth/2010-039B", -- Centaur (AEHF-1)
      "Sol/2011-040B", -- Centaur (Juno)
      "Sol/2011-070B", -- Centaur (MSL)
      "Sol/Earth/2012-009B", -- :Centaur (MUOS-1)
      "Sol/Earth/2013-004B", -- Centaur (TDRS-11)
      "Sol/Earth/2013-023B", -- Centaur (GPS-2F4)
      "Sol/Earth/2013-036B", -- Centaur (MUOS-2)
      "Sol/Earth/2014-004B", -- Centaur (TDRS-12)
      "Sol/Earth/2014-020B", -- Centaur (NROL-67)
      "Sol/Earth/2014-045B", -- Centaur (GPS-2F7)
      "Sol/Earth/2014-055B", -- Centaur (CLIO)
      "Sol/Earth/2014-068B", -- Centaur (GPS-2F8)
      "Sol/Earth/2015-002B", -- Centaur (MUOS-3)
      "Sol/Earth/2015-033B", -- Centaur (GPS-2F10)
      "Sol/Earth/2015-044B", -- Centaur (MUOS-4)
      "Sol/Earth/2015-056B", -- Centaur (Mexsat-2)
      "Sol/Earth/2015-062B", -- Centaur (GPS-2F11)
      "Sol/Earth/2016-041B", -- Centaur (MUOS-5)
      "Sol/Earth/2016-071B", -- Centaur (GOES-16)
      "Sol/Earth/2017-047B", -- Centaur (TDRS-13)
      "Sol/Earth/2018-022B", -- Centaur (GOES-17)
      "Sol/Earth/2018-079B", -- Centaur (AEHF-4)
      "Sol/Earth/2019-051C", -- Centaur (AEHF-5)
      "Sol/Earth/2020-022C", -- Centaur (AEHF-6)
      "Sol/2021-093B", -- Centaur (Lucy):2022 UQ1
      "Sol/Earth/2021-118C", -- Centaur (STP-3)
      "Sol/Earth/2022-021B", -- Centaur (GOES-18)
      "Sol/Earth/2022-092B", -- Centaur (SBIRS-GEO6)
      "Sol/Earth/2022-123C", -- Centaur (SES-20 and 21)


[DaveBowman2001]

Uploaded a corrected script on its original post above, thanks! Also, I renamed it from "Mark Centaurs.cel" to "Mark Centaur stages.cel" so that it won't get confused with the script of the same name for distant Solar System objects

[DaveBowman2001]

STS-49 (Endeavour) rescuing Intelsat 603, 1992-May-13

The active (green) Intelsat-VI satellites as of 1996-Jan-22

The Intelsat VI-series were the sixth generation communications satellites built by the Hughes Aircraft Company for the Intelsat Corporation. From 1989 to 1991, a total of five satellites, each weighing 4,330 kg, were launched into GEO. One satellite (Intelsat 603) was left stranded in LEO after a launch failure in 1990, where it was subsequently rescued during the maiden flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour in May 1992

NOTES:
- Orbits are based on the TLEs obtained from CelesTrak
- All satellites were no longer operational since 2013
- Although none were launched from a Space Shuttle, it requires the STS-2022 addon installed first in order for one satellite (Intelsat 603) to be viewed on Celestia
- Shuttle missions modified by this addon: STS-49

Intelsat VI.zip

(2.14 MiB) Downloaded 189 times

[gironde]

WARNING addon "International Space Station" by DaveBowman2001

As I already explained here, the order of loading definition files (ssc, stc, and dsc) is very important.

In the ISS addon, the ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle), and Dream Chaser were not loaded by Celestia 1.6.2.2 while Progress was.
The message in the loading log was "parent not found". I searched for a syntax error in the files and found none.

Finally I remembered the load order problem. Celestia loads files from the same folder or subfolder in alphabetical order.
In ISS we had:
Automated Transfer Vehicle
Dream Chaser
International Space Station
Kounotori
Northrop Cygnus
Soyuz
SpaceX Dragon
Starliner

ATV and Dream Chaser are loaded before ISS is loaded, so have a parent that does not exist at this time of loading and raise an error and are not loaded.

So I changed the name of each subfolder:
0-International Space Station
1-Automated Transfer Vehicle
2-Dream Chaser
3-Kounotori
4-Northrop Cygnus
5-Soyuz
6-SpaceX Dragon
7-Starliner

Since all are charged

When you have extra folders with multiple subfolders, check if one of the objects needs another one that would be loaded later.

[DaveBowman2001]

What version did you download gironde? The May 2022 and subsequent updates have this file arrangement below, which works fully well since the (parenthesis) is being considered by Celestia as first in alphabetical/numerical order

The main ISS folder is the first recognized in order

Untitled2.jpg (12.73 KiB) Viewed 9725 times

The same applies to STS-2022 and expansion addons

Expansion addons go to "Payloads" and "Satellites" subfolders

Untitled2.jpg (13.59 KiB) Viewed 9725 times

[gironde]

Davebowman2001 wrote
What version did you download gironde?

I successively installed all your updates. I hadn't noticed the small change to the name of the ISS folder in May 2022.
It is true that the presence of the parentheses puts it at the top of the list and solves the problem. I see that you had to face the same problem but before me.

When I found out about this, I checked quite a few addons but couldn't find any other cases so far. Let's keep this concern in mind because it is not documented in the Celestia wikis.

Thank you for your response and interest in my post.

[DaveBowman2001]

Teaser photos for the upcoming Project Apollo (Part 4) addon, in comparison to real-life photos from the program. This will replace the Part 3 iteration from June 2021.

Apollo 9
March 3-13, 1969

Apollo 11
July 16-24, 1969

Apollo 12
November 14-24, 1969

Apollo 15
July 26-August 7, 1971

Apollo 16
April 16-27, 1972

[DaveBowman2001]

The Luna Ye-8-5 spacecraft were a series of Soviet lunar landers that were designed to collect lunar samples robotically and send them back to Earth for analysis. Part of the overall Luna program, they were the first sample-return space probes ever launched and has successfully retrieved a total 301.1 g of lunar material across 3/11 successful missions from 1969 to 1976

This post serves as an update to the Luna 16, 20, 23, 24 (Sample-return) addon by Jack Higgins

MISSIONS SUMMARY:
(NOTE: Three additional missions lost in launch failures were excluded from this addon)

Luna 15
E-8-5 No.401
- Reached lunar orbit, 1969-Jul-17
- Crashed on Mare Crisium, 1969-Jul-21
- Notable for running in parallel with Apollo 11, the first crewed lunar landing

Cosmos 300
E-8-5 No.403
- Launched on 1969-Sept-23
- Proton/Block-D stage failed to insert itself on a translunar trajectory
- Reentered the atmosphere just two days later

Cosmos 305
E-8-5 No.404
- Launched on 1969-Oct-22
- Proton/Block-D stage failed to insert itself on a translunar trajectory
- Reentered the atmosphere just two days later

Luna 16
E-8-5 No.406
- Landed on Mare Fecundidatis, 1970-Sept-20
- Retrieved 101 g of lunar material
- First robotic sample-return mission/lunar night landing in space history

Luna 18
E-8-5 No.407
- Reached lunar orbit, 1971-Sept-7
- Crashed on Terra Apollonius, 1971-Sept-11

Luna 20
E-8-5 No.408
- Landed on Terra Apollonius, 1972-Feb-21
- Retrieved 30 g of lunar material

Luna 23
E-8-5M No.410
- Landed on Mare Crisium, 1974-Nov-6
- Primary mission failed after tipping off its side due to rough landing attempt
- Maintained contact for another three days on the surface

Luna 24
E-8-5M No.413
- Landed on Mare Crisium, 1976-Aug-18
- Retrieved 170.1 g of lunar material
- Last successful Soviet robotic space mission ever

Luna 15 to 24.zip

(361.81 KiB) Downloaded 195 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Update/Replacement to the Luna 10 addon. CMOD model smoothened out and visual bugs were eliminated. Texture changed from DDS to PNG. Orbital data remains the same as the previous iteration

Luna 10.zip

(96.35 KiB) Downloaded 190 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Second Update/Replacement to the Surveyor Landers addon. An improved CMOD model and revised radius was implemented.

This addon is released in celebration to the 50th Anniversary of the launch of Apollo 17

Surveyor 1 to 7.zip

(3.07 MiB) Downloaded 250 times

NOTE: Released as part of Project Apollo

[DaveBowman2001]

The S-IVB was the third stage on the Saturn V and second stage on the Saturn IB launch vehicles. Built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, it had one J-2 rocket engine. For lunar missions it was fired twice: first for Earth orbit insertion after second stage cutoff, and then for translunar injection (TLI). A total of 22 stages were flown (including one converted into Skylab), but only five remain in space on the present day (all in heliocentric orbit).

This addon is released in celebration to the date of the 50th Anniversary of the arrival of Apollo 17 into lunar orbit today. In addition to renaming the stages from Apollo 8 to 12, it also adds the S-IVB stages from AS-203 and Apollo 7

Original addon by Medusa. CMOD model and J002E3's reconstructed trajectory were updated by pedro_jg. Orbital data for all LEO stages were obtained from CelesTrak

S-IVB Apollo stages.zip

(329.01 KiB) Downloaded 207 times

NOTE: Released as part of Project Apollo