Orbiter Articles

Martin Schweiger's "Orbiter" is a freeware space flight simulator for the PC that is fun, powerful, realistic, expandable, and educational. Based on the real science and math of orbital mechanics and atmospheric flight, it features a first-person astronaut's perspective and beautiful 3D graphics.

This Introductory Tutorial manual is a colorful picture book about humans going to Mars, how they might realistically go about this, and where this might lead in the future.

This Introductory Tutorial manual is a colorful picture book about humans going to Mars, how they might realistically go about this, and where this might lead in the future.

A colorful picture book about humans going to Mars, how they might realistically go about this, and where this might lead in the future. The missions were simulated with specially developed add-ons in the freeware Orbiter space flight simulator, and most of the graphics are screen captures from Orbiter, though some are real photos from NASA. Intended for ages 10 to adult, the book includes an appendix with details for each page, including information on the add-ons used in Orbiter to create the images.

I think Orbiter should really be flown in a dark room up close to a big monitor. It's like looking out the window of the Shuttle, with Bach, Strauss, and Ravel cycling in the background.

Orbiter is a amazing free 3D Space Simulator written by Dr. Martin Schweiger, Ph.D. Orbiter contains accurate math and orbital physics, and has an extensive community support base.

The addon people for this thing are maniacs, and the Forum is the one of the most multinational I have ever seen.

So I spent a good 90 minutes orbiting the earth for the views in the ISS (usually at 10-100x time warp) while listening to some classical theme music. So far I've been pretty literal - Strauss's Blue Danube - Holst's Planets - Mozart's Jupiter Symphony -- all seem suitable for space. I also have the Ravel Daphne and Chloe (suite), very nice moon mood music.

Unbelievable atmospherics and lightinng from Asobo's engine make this Canberra sunrise jaw-dropping!