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
Released: 2024-Oct-10, 16:10

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
Released: 2024-Oct-07, 08:00

Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission
Four NASA satellites studying the Earth's magnetosphere
Released: 2024-Oct-24, 05:50

Mars Climate Orbiter
A NASA mission that failed because of metric/imperial units confusion
Released: 2024-Oct-22, 01:20

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

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

Van Allen Probes
Twin NASA spacecraft that studied the Van Allen Radiation Belts. Original add-on by gironde
Released: 2024-10-12, 14:40

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 SSC files originally made by gironde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 78 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 107 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 54 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 55 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 54 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 55 times

[DaveBowman2001]

The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) was a European space telescope designed to observe the universe in infrared light. Launched in 1995, it serves as a follow-up mission to NASA's IRAS satellite, and is placed in a much higher Earth orbit. However, operations were terminated in May 1998 when its helium coolant supply was depleted, making it unable to perform further observations. It is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere within 20-30 years after shutdown

This add-on serves as an update/replacement to the add-on originally made by Jack Higgins.

Infrared Space Observatory.zip

(6.15 MiB) Downloaded 56 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Started work on Hera after successfully launching from Florida a few minutes ago as of this writing. Current HORIZONS trajectory is still incomplete (i.e. missing its Didymos orbit phase), however

[DaveBowman2001]

Uploaded an update to John van Vliet's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) on its original thread here. Spacecraft now completely stops moving on the moment of impact with Dimorphos instead of phasing through

[John Van Vliet]

well there is really no way to stop the spice kernel
however i don't like using xyzv files so...

[DaveBowman2001]

There is a way actually. Upon setting up a Timeline block, get the Planetographic coordinates of your spacecraft's center on the moment of impact....then fine-tune the time in (TDB) when it reaches that point. If it is an intentional crash, make its Ending very short (I set mine to 0.001 seconds).....this way, it stops moving even if there's still state vectors defined in either spice or xyzv after the supposed impact.

I first tested this with FarGetaNik's Deep Impact, then later applied it with the Chandrayaan's Vikram landers (you could check the rewrite I did with DART's ssc file)....they were based on how Jestr managed to land Huygens on Titan on his 2017 version of Cassini

[DaveBowman2001]

NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) is a 12U-cubesat mission as part of the ELaNa program. Launched in April 2024, it is designed to test composite materials needed in building solar sail propulsion, which could help enable future deep space missions without the need of additional conventional rocket propellant.

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

ACS3.zip

(1.41 MiB) Downloaded 50 times

[DaveBowman2001]

The Van Allen Probes, also known as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), were two NASA robotic spacecraft designed to study the Earth's Van Allen radiation belts. Launched in 2012, they were placed in a highly elliptical orbit and operated for seven years until they were both decommissioned in 2019. They were expected to be naturally deorbited by 2034

This serves as an update/replacement to the RBSP addon by gironde. Model and textures were retrieved from NASA's Eyes of the Solar System website

Van Allen Probes.zip

(2.22 MiB) Downloaded 50 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Thinking of releasing a new updated version of the Space Shuttle add-on, cleaning up the relatively messy file structure it currently has since it was last updated in May 2022 before adding more Shuttle-related missions to it

[gironde]

3 Starlink launches in September 2024

Starlink 194-195-196.zip

(68.15 KiB) Downloaded 92 times

[DaveBowman2001]

The Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) was a NASA mission designed to study the Martian climate, atmosphere and surface changes in orbit. It was part of the Mars Surveyor '98 mission alongside Mars Polar Lander, however it was unintentionally destroyed about 57 km above the Martian atmosphere due to its onboard computer being unable to convert metric and imperial units during orbital insertion

A huge thank you to pedro_jg for reconstructing its trajectory data from NASA Archives, with the state vectors during atmospheric entry being supplemented using Orbiter2016. Credits to the original model's author, emin31284, from SketchFab

Mars Climate Orbiter.zip

(4.49 MiB) Downloaded 43 times

[DaveBowman2001]

Formosat 5 is a Taiwanese Earth observations satellite launched by a Falcon 9 rocket in August 2017. Placed in a 720-km sun synchronous orbit, its primary goal is to demonstrate Taiwan's satellite manufacturing capabilities and produce data for various academic research

Original add-on by toutatis and gironde. Added a COSPAR ID and modified its CMOD model

Formosat 5.zip

(491.94 KiB) Downloaded 43 times

[DaveBowman2001]

The Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) is a group of four NASA satellites dedicated in studying the Earth's magnetosphere. They were all launched by a single Atlas V rocket in March 2015, complementing the findings of the earlier Cluster-II mission. All satellites have enough fuel to remain operational until at least 2040

Orbital parameters were retrieved from JPL HORIZONS. CMOD model was retrieved from NASA's Eyes of the Solar System website

Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission.zip

(2.6 MiB) Downloaded 32 times