Spacecraft for Celestia: Thread 2

[DaveBowman2001]

Further spacecraft add-on projects to be released sometime this September and October 2024:

Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3)
A NASA/Ames mission to test solar sail technology

Cluster II
Four ESA satellites studying the Earth's magnetosphere. Original add-on by gironde
Released: 2024-Oct-01, 14:37

Geotail
A magnetospheric satellite run by NASA and ISAS for 30 years
Released: 2024-Sept-29, 06:48

Infrared Space Observatory
A European space telescope from 1995–1998. Original add-on by Jack Higgins

Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission
Four NASA satellites studying the Earth's magnetosphere

Mars Climate Orbiter
A NASA mission that failed because of metric/imperial units confusion

Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2
A NASA mission that monitors the Earth's carbon cycle. Original add-on by gironde
Released: 2024-09-30, 09:00

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)
A NASA Earth observations satellite in service since 2015
Released: 2024-10-05, 09:10

Van Allen Probes
Twin NASA spacecraft that studied the Van Allen Radiation Belts. Original add-on by gironde

Zenit
A series of Soviet/Russian spy satellites from 1961 to 2004

[DaveBowman2001]

Starlink shell as of 2024-Sept-5. Click to view GIF animation

Here's a recap of all 193 Starlink launches so far collected in one ZIP file.
This was last updated on 2024-Sept-14. SSC files originally made by gironde

Starlink (Flights 1 to 193).zip

(655.31 KiB) Downloaded 23 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Updated the Mariner 10 add-on. Restored toutatis's color/texture modifications first introduced in August 2020, which I accidentally removed in January 2022.

Mariner 10 (Sept 2024).zip

(1.16 MiB) Downloaded 21 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Geotail was a NASA/ISAS satellite that measured the Earth's magnetosphere. It was launched in 1992, and its operations continued until the last of its two onboard data recorders failed in 2022, thus subsequently ending the mission. It remains inactive in a highly eccentric orbit to this day

Orbital parameters from CelesTrak. CMOD model was derived from NASA's Eyes of the Solar System website

Geotail.zip

(2.06 MiB) Downloaded 12 times

[DaveBowman2001]

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) is a NASA environmental satellite dedicated in studying carbon dioxide concentrations and distribution in the Earth's atmosphere. It was launched in July 2014, its findings are being complemented by the OCO-3 instrument currently mounted on the International Space Station. It is still active as of 2024.

This serves as an update/replacement to the add-on of the same name by gironde. CMOD model is derived from NASA's Eyes of the Solar System website

Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2.zip

(6.16 MiB) Downloaded 14 times

[SpaceExplorer]

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is a NASA solar observatory, launched in 2010-Feb-11, and operated in an inclined geosynchronous orbit. It continuously observes the Sun at different wavelengths. Remains operational in 2024.

This is an update to the old addon made by BrianJ on Motherlode:
- More accurate and recent orbital parameters. Epoch 2460584.5 (2024-Oct-01);
- Model converted to CMOD by DaveBowman2001.

[DaveBowman2001]

Cluster II are a series of four European-built satellites that studied the Earth's magnetosphere and its long-term interactions with the solar wind. It was launched in pairs from two Soyuz-U/Fregat rockets in 2000, and is now currently being decommissioned between 2024 and 2026

The orbits of the four Cluster-II satellites

This add-on serves as an update/replacement of the CMOD model originally published by gironde back in May 2018

Cluster II.zip

(2.2 MiB) Downloaded 12 times

[DaveBowman2001]

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite is a NASA environmental mission dedicated in measuring the changes in global soil moisture. Launched in 2015, its science data returned can be used in planning for weather forecasting, flood warnings and agricultural productivity

Orbital data retrieved from CelesTrak. CMOD model was derived from NASA's Eyes of the Solar System website

SMAP.zip

(6.67 MiB) Downloaded 7 times