Space Eggheads... check this out...

[Heyo]

To all you space exploration fans out there....

I have to recommend this space flight simulator if you haven't seen it yet.

It's called Orbiter...

http://www.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/~martins/orbit/orbit.html

Check that site out, it's a free download.

It's a super realistic space flight simulator...

You can launch into Earth orbit, rendezvous with space station, go to Mars or any other planet, it has a realistic solar system in it... plus extra stuff you can add like a base on Mars etc.

You can use real stuff like the Soyuz or Space Shuttle, or some fictitious craft, and there are all the real spaceports, Kennedy, Baikinor Cosmodrome (sp?) that the Russians use...

The learning curve is STEEP, however, so people who aren't real space nuts might find it boring.

I find this site.....

http://www.braeunig.us/space/orbmech.htm

.. very helpful. It's a guide on basic orbital mechanics (ignore the mathematical equations and just read the basic principles...)

There is also lots of tutorial stuff that comes with Orbiter.


It's a great learning experience in spacecraft navigation and a lot of fun.. addictive once you get the hang of it..

The game is in real time, but you can speed it up by factors of 10 so you can set up your transfer orbit to go to Mars, lets say, and then speed up time 1,000 times so you can see how good you set up your orbit... there's a moon base you can visit and stuff.

It's, simply put, a really realistic and very scientific space flight simulator, based on %100 percent accurate physics.. all the masses of the planets, orbits, gravity is all 100 percent accurate..

If you do decide to play, print out the manual like I did and read it when you're not playing.. like I'd read it for a little while before bed each night. and of course refer to it while playing.

I have learned how to get up into orbit.. how to achieve a circular orbit... almost had a geosynchronous orbit going but I messed up and got it all eccentric... I am working on a rendezvous with the ISS..

(You can set up scenarios, and save them, make your own or use the ones it comes with.. and fly those scenarios...

If you're a true space nerd, give it a go....)

Heyo

[Heyo]

1. And another thing...

They have a web forum on their site...

.. and if you participate there, you can get a lot of help if you choose to play, I learn a lot even just lurking.

Heyo

[Heyo]

2. I suck.

I can't believe how lame I am.

;(

Sorry everyone.

Heyo

[KellyW]

3. I have been playing Orbiter since the flying brick days of 2001.

Playing is a missnomer, as it is not a game. Orbiter may be the greatest freeware ever.
I figuered out that if I had shelled out $40 for each new version, I would have spent well over $500. Microsoft sold a cummy spaceflight simulator in the 1990s that never really worked like advertized. Orbiter succeeded where the the lords of Redmond failed.

Orbiter is in someway political.

There are some people in the world that think that someone must make a profit off of anything in the world that is worth doing. Orbiter is the proof that it is not true.

[Heyo]

4. Very true....

.. to call it a game is a stretch... and playing is can quickly morph into a full fledged serious hobby.

So have you gotten pretty good at it since you've been playing? I'm really still feeling my way around.

Still trying to doc with the ISS. I can get into it's orbital plane, and get it somewhat circular, but I am always at a different position than the station.

Heyo

[KellyW]

5. Get the Delta III add-on

You can get to ISS on Auto-pilot. The Docking HUD is very useful once you get close.