Spacecraft for Celestia: Thread 2

[DaveBowman2001]

Preview of some of the future spacecraft projects I'm currently working on this May

ASC-1
One of three satellites launched from STS-51-I (Discovery)
Released: 2024-May-29, 13:18

Chandrayaan-2 and 3
India's second and third missions to the Moon
Released: 2024-May-28, 14:51

GOES-16 to 19
NOAA's latest generation of geostationary weather satellites
Released: 2024-Jun-3, 10:56

Long March 3 (3rd stages)
Replaces the Chang'e 5-T1 booster addon
Released: 2024-Aug-30, 05:08

Mars 2 to 7
The Soviet Exploration of the Red Planet
Released: 2024-May-28, 04:47

Project Gemini (Part 3)
Featuring the current progress as of 2024-May-18. Replaces Part 1 and Part 2

An Agena Target Vehicle as seen from Gemini 8

The ATDA of Gemini 9A, a.k.a "The Angry Alligator"

NOTE: Gemini currently used is from default 1.7.0

Tianwen-1
China's first successful mission to Mars. Original add-on by toutatis
Released: 2024-Jun-6, 09:57

Voskhod 1 and 2
Remastered model for the Volga airlock
Released: 2024-May-31, 07:19

[DaveBowman2001]

The Mars program is a series of Soviet space probes intended to explore the Red Planet. A total of seven missions were launched on the second phase of the program (1971-1974), including the first to land successfully on Mars. However the program was plagued with serious technological issues that it was eventually abandoned in favor of continuing Venera missions to Venus

NOTES:
- All the missions' XYZV trajectories here are rough semifictional reconstructions as surviving state vector data for them no longer existed
- That being said, orbital parameters for Cosmos 419 were actual TLE data requested and retrieved from CelesTrak
- This add-on depicts all landers (Mars 2, 3, 6) placed on their predicted coordinates on the surface of Mars. In reality, only Mars 3 was able to land intact, while Mars 2 and 6 were destroyed in crash-landings
- Mars 3's exact surface coordinates were provided by @Shadow-Dragon-777
- 3D models for all spacecraft were retrieved from SketchFab. They were originally made by tashtego (orbiter) and Wieslaw Kruczala (lander)

Mars 2 to 7.zip

UPDATE (240530): Fixed floating surface plane bug on Mars 3 (lander)

(9.16 MiB) Downloaded 142 times

Spoiler

FUN FACT: The date this addon was released coincided with the 53rd anniversary of the launch of Mars 3 itself

[DaveBowman2001]

Chandrayaan-2 and 3 are ISRO robotic missions to the Moon in 2019 and 2023 respectively. Upon orbit insertion, both missions each sent a Vikram lander and a Pragyan rover to the lunar south pole. Only the latter flight is successful, making India the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon. Both the Chandrayaan orbiters are still active to this day, while CH-3's lander has already completed its 14-day surface mission and is now decommissioned

NOTES:
- Orbital data for all probes are retrieved from JPL HORIZONS
- Full deployment and landing sequences for the Vikram landers are simulated!
- In real life, CH-2's Vikram was destroyed in a crash-landing. This add-on simulates an alternate scenario where that mission has successfully touched down on the Moon but lost contact with Earth shortly afterwards
- The CMOD models for the Chandrayaan orbiter and Pragyan rover are made by me. Meanwhile, the Vikram lander model was originally created by Kulibin Space on SketchFab

Chandrayaan-2 and 3.zip

(12.93 MiB) Downloaded 140 times

[DaveBowman2001]

I've uploaded a patch for the Mars 2 to 7 add-on with more accurate coordinates for Mars 3 lander thanks to Shadow-Dragon-777. Also added a parameter on Mars 4 to keep tracking it after February 1974 thanks to SpaceExplorer! Same link above

[DaveBowman2001]

ASC-1 to 3 were three communications satellites operated by the American Satellite Corp. and later PanAmSat launched between 1985 and 1991. The first satellite is one of three spacecraft deployed from the payload bay of STS-51-I (Discovery). They provided television broadcasting and network until 2006, when the last of the satellites were decommissioned and replaced by newer fleets

STS-51-I (Discovery). ASC-1 is in the middle

NOTES:
- Orbital data for all three satellites were retrieved from CelesTrak
- The satellite ASC-1 requires the Space Shuttle add-on installed first to be viewed.
- Shuttle missions modified by this add-on: STS-51-I

ASC-1 to 3.zip

(109.62 KiB) Downloaded 140 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Mariner 9 was a NASA spacecraft that became the first artificial object to orbit another planet when it arrived on Mars on 1971-Nov-14, narrowly beating the two Soviet probes (Mars 2 and 3) by two weeks. It remained active until 1972-Oct-27, and is predicted to have deorbited by 2022 at the earliest

NOTES:
- Original add-on by TERRIER
- Made enhancements to the model reflections, making details on the main bus more visible.

Mariner 9.zip

(398.62 KiB) Downloaded 146 times

Spoiler

FUN FACT: The date this addon was released coincided with the 53rd anniversary of the launch of Mariner 9 itself

[DaveBowman2001]

The Voskhod is an interim Soviet manned space program that ran from 1964 to 1966, concurrent with NASA's Project Gemini. Derived from the earlier Vostok capsule, it was the first spacecraft to carry two and three people to space at a time, and in March 18, 1965 saw the first successful EVA or spacewalk by Alexey Leonov. However, the program was abruptly terminated following the introduction of the much more advanced Soyuz spacecraft in 1966

Volga airlock deployment sequence (Click to view GIF animation)

NOTES:
- Update/replacement of my old Voskhod add-on released from September 2022
- Redesigned the Volga airlock and made it deployable/detachable

Voskhod 1 and 2.zip

(1.93 MiB) Downloaded 143 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Queqiao is a series of Chinese lunar orbiters sent to support communications relay for any landers touching down on the Far Side of the Moon. Two such orbiters were launched between 2018 and 2024, months prior to the arrival of Chang'e 4 and 6 themselves on the lunar surface

This serves as an update/replacement to my Queqiao addon previously released on June 2021, this time adding a second satellite in lunar orbit. Textures used were originally made by Sirius_Alpha for his Chang'e 3-4-5 addons

Queqiao-1 and 2.zip

(481.06 KiB) Downloaded 137 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Posted an SSC update representing Chang'e 6 on Sirius_Alpha's original addon thread for the Chang'e landers, in celebration for its successful landing just a few hours ago as of this writing

[DaveBowman2001]

GOES-R is the fourth-generation series of weather satellites under NASA/NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites program (1975-Present). Four satellites of this series (designated as 16, 17, 18 and 19) are launched from 2016-2024. They are planned to replace the old GOES-N fleet

Orbital data for all satellites were retrieved from CelesTrak. The original model is converted into CMOD from NASA VTAD

GOES-R.zip

UPDATE (240807): Added GOES-19, the final satellite of the GOES-R series

(3.28 MiB) Downloaded 66 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Tianwen-1 is a CNSA interplanetary mission consisting of an orbiter and a lander/rover towards Mars. Arriving on the Red Planet at the same time as Mars Hope and Mars 2020, it later successfully deployed and land the Zhurong rover on May 2021, making China the second country to send a rover on Mars. As of 2024, only the orbiter remains operational

Tianwen-1's first orbits around Mars. Click to view GIF animation

NOTES:
- Original add-on by toutatis
- The original CMOD model for Tianwen was splitted into two, to "simulate" the deployment of its lander capsule on May 2021. However, the lander and Zhurong rover themselves are not included in this add-on, which will be provided in the future
- Orbital trajectories after February 10, 2021 were rough, but not totally accurate reconstructions of Dr. Daniel Estevez's original calculations for the probe on his website. They are generated through GMAT and Orbiter 2016

Tianwen-1.zip

(16.05 MiB) Downloaded 168 times

[DaveBowman2001]

IFT-3 is the third orbital test flight of the SpaceX Starship. Launched on 14 March 2024, it demonstrated the spacecraft's capability to reach space and refuel itself. Although it did not survive reentry, it did manage to complete almost its objectives and SpaceX declared it a success. A follow-up mission, IFT-4, launched on June 6th

This addon only provides an SSC file with actual TLE data from the mission. Requires Endeavor35's SpaceX Starship (crew) add-on. Will create a dedicated Starship cargo spacecraft add-on in the future, hopefully

Starship IFT-3 (SSC file).zip

(792 Bytes) Downloaded 127 times

[gironde]

18 launches Starlink betwen 5 april and 25 may 2024
This series sees the appearance of satellites equipped with the DTC (Direct To Cell) function.

Starlink 154 to 171.zip

(110.63 KiB) Downloaded 129 times

this first version from 13-06-2024 contains errors in vidiba files
please download the following version from 20-06-2024

Starlink 154 to 171 (modified).zip

(110.6 KiB) Downloaded 113 times

communication july 27, 2024
I have find an error. If you use Vidiba, please, change the name of table, line 1 in Vidiba file : StarlinkWebFleet169.lua
[StarlinkWebFleet166 = -- (Starlink V2 mini) 23/05/2024 02:35 n°169 - 23 Starlink 6-62 2024-097]
by
[StarlinkWebFleet169 = -- (Starlink V2 mini) 23/05/2024 02:35 n°169 - 23 Starlink 6-62 2024-097]

This error prevents the display in Vidiba of this lua table and perhaps the following

[DaveBowman2001]

Starlink shell as of 2024-May-24. Click to view GIF animation

Here's a recap of all 171 Starlink launches so far collected in one ZIP file.
This was last updated on 2024-Jun-13. SSC files originally made by gironde

DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION HERE, 2024-09-19

[gironde]

9 launches Starlink betwen 19 june and 23 july 2024
This series sees the appearance of satellites equipped with the DTC (Direct To Cell) function.

Starlink 172 to 180.zip

(83.49 KiB) Downloaded 189 times

[gironde]

error detected in StarlinkWebFleet169 see the correctif
viewtopic.php?p=162626#p162626

Added after 3 hours 49 minutes:
following a confusion, I confused the loss of Starlink launch 181 with the previous n°180
so I remade a package for launch 180 alone which replaces my previous publication of July 23

Starlink 180.zip

(60.77 KiB) Downloaded 112 times

each point is à Starlink in orbit (6222)

[DaveBowman2001]

Pioneer 5 was a NASA mission that became the first spacecraft to study the interplanetary space environment between the orbits of Venus and Earth. Launched in March 1960, it continued to send data back for 3 months until June 1960, when the probe was beyond its designed transmission range with Earth, thus ending communications

Pioneer 5.zip

(3.67 MiB) Downloaded 118 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Telstar 1 and 2 were among the first communications satellites ever launched. Designed and operated by NASA, they allowed the first live television broadcast between the United States and Europe. Both satellites were sent into highly elliptical orbits in 1962 and 1963, where they remain to this day, though they operated for only 7 and 24 months, respectively.

CMOD model is made by me. Orbital parameters used were originally written by gironde (Telstar 1) and Thomas Guilpain (Telstar 2) respectively

Telstar 1 and 2.zip

(1.43 MiB) Downloaded 116 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Posted an SSC update to the GOES-R addon, which adds the recently launched GOES-19 (formerly GOES-U) satellite to the fleet

[gironde]

5 launches Starlink betwen 12 july 2024 and 08 august 2024

Starlink 181-182-183-184-185.zip

(72.7 KiB) Downloaded 139 times