- ORBITER 2006 RELEASED! Yes, you heard right. After a long awaited arrival, ORBITER 2006 has been released to the general public! Grab your copy now!
- The Moonport forums have had a makeover! As a result of some problems with YaBB, we had to get rid of the old board. The board has been re-opened with new board software and a much more professional look. - Orbiter 2005 Edition is released! Get your copy today! New features include: - We now offer the most current space related news brought to us by Universe Today. The news will be updated daily, so check back often! - We have now created an IRC Orbiter Chatroom on the SpaceTronix network. If you use mIRC or any other IRC client, you can join by enteing the following information for your IRC Client - Project Mercury 5.0 is progressing along quite well. We have set up a website that we will use for updates. We also have some really nice screenshots of this next version available! Check it out at the Projecy Mercury 5.0 website! - Now you can view and download the planetary Orbiter addons that we created by clicking THIS LINK or click HERE for our spacecraft addons. - NASA documents pertaining to project Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo are now available in PDF format in our Documents section. We will add more information as we obtain it. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these documents.
We basically had to start from scratch, so if you were a member of the old board, just sign up and start posting.
If you have an idea for a new forum, just drop me a note and I'll add it.
Enjoy the new forums. Click on the Moonport Forums option on the top menu
Virtual cockpits: Orbiter now supports 3-D virtual spacecraft cockpits. This takes Orbiter to a new level of immersion and enhances situational awareness by providing a rotating camera viewpoint. Instrument displays are fully functional, and buttons and switches can be operated with the mouse. The Orbiter distribution provides a reference cockpit implementation for the Delta-glider, but addon spacecraft can be upgraded using the virtual cockpit programming interface.
New visual effects: New atmospheric haze rendering make planets appear much more realistic from orbit. Looking towards the horizon in low Earth orbit shows the increasing effect of haze blurring of surface features. Spacecraft, buildings and even smoke trails now cast a shadow on the ground, providing more attractive visuals and a useful altitude cue.
More accurate astrodynamics: A lot of effort has gone into improving Orbiter's physical engine. Planetary ephemeris codes have been extensively redesigned. The sun is no longer fixed in the centre of the solar system, but rotates around the barycentre. Earth's moon uses a more accurate perturbation solution. Jupiter's four largest moons are now also controlled by a semi-analytic perturbation code, improving long-term stability. Perturbations of the gravitational field due to nonspherical planet shapes are now supported.
New delta-glider: One of Orbiter's favourite spacecraft has been completely redesigned. Apart from a new exterior mesh and virtual cockpit contributed by Roger Long, it has also undergone a functional upgrade, including a version with air-breathing scramjet engines.
Better orbital flight model: Orbiter now uses a new method of orbit stabilisation during time compression. It calculates the osculating orbital elements of the primary gravity source, and dynamically propagates only the perturbations of this 2-body model. This provides better stability of trajectories - invaluable for interplanetary trips.
New help system: A context-sensitive HTML-based help system provides information about a particular spacecraft, instrument or simulation scenario. This greatly enhances the ability to design tutorials and in-game reference material.
Markers and labels: A variety of configurable surface markers and celestial labels can now be displayed in Orbiter's "Planetarium" mode. They can be used to identify places of interest, landmarks, historical landing sites, guidance stars or other celestial objects.
I also received a number of emails regarding how to watch the live NASA Television feed that we provide. In order to watch the live feed, you will need REAL Player. Or you may also use an alternative to Real Player that is available on the Internet.
IRC Servername: irc.spacetronix.net
Ports: 6660-6669,7000
Channel #Orbiter
When connected, simply type /join #Orbiter
If you do not have an IRC chat client installed, you can use our JAVA IRC Chat Client located * HERE *
Enjoy!
Among the downloads available are:
* USS Enterprise 1701-C
* Cessna 140 Aircraft
* Super High Resolution Earth Textures
* High Resolution Jupiter moons
*And more! Enjoy!