Author here. It's a browser view of the Solar System at real scale, with its current state, plus the objects around Earth from the CelesTrak catalog.

Data: CelesTrak TLEs (SGP4), asteroids and comets from JPL SBDB, spacecraft positions from JPL Horizons. Updated daily.

Rendering is WebGL2, orbit propagation runs in web workers. The asteroid set (~30 MB) loads in the background.

The time slider runs forwards and backwards; satellites appear and disappear by launch date.

▲ ddahlen a day ago | parent | next [-]

How are you sourcing the spacecraft positions from JPL? Are you just grabbing a huge list of state vectors?

My old day job was to compute asteroid positions for NASA telescopes, if you are interested in orbit prop you may be interested in: https://github.com/dahlend/kete

I made an asteroid only version of yours earlier this year, where it does full orbit propagation in workers: https://dahlend.github.io/ketev/

	▲	wanick 15 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, state vectors from the Horizons API for each spacecraft, refreshed daily. Thanks for the kete link, I'll take a look.

▲ laylower 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Importantly, how are we doing in terms of coverage? Are we seeing the sky enough and clearly enough to have a few years worth of warning before we get dinosaur-ed?

I figured the experts here would care to express an opinion.

	▲	gridmap 11 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Good question! From working within the field, there are new missions like NEO (Near Earth Object) Surveyor whose mission is to identify objects that could possibly be hazardous. There have also been missions previously done to study the required response to alter trajectories of objects such as the DART mission. We will also have a much greater picture of asteroids and comets in the inner Solar System in the future as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory continues its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) over the next decade. People are definitely thinking about these problems! Links: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/neo-surveyor/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-OvnVdZP_8 https://rubinobservatory.org/news/11000-new-asteroids
	▲	dmbche 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predicted_asteroid_imp...

▲ schiffern 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

  >satellites appear and disappear by launch date

This uses the modern TLE propagated backwards in time (vs using historical TLEs), correct?

	▲	wanick 12 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, current TLEs propagated backwards. Past 90 days it's marked as an estimate.

▲ sebmellen 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This asteroid is missing FWIW https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=20031...

▲ joshspankit 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Can you make a version for VR, mostly for those “have you seen this yet” moments? Just the same data, same rendering, free movement by grabbing space (though earth pov would be a nice bonus). I’d pay $1-10 and even $1-$10/yr

▲ ____tom____ a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It's a browser view of the Solar System at real scale

Is it really? I don't think you could see the satellites, if they weren't drawn at 1000x scale. I am wrong?

At real scale, i would expect to not see anything.

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jsphweid a day ago | parent | next [-]

I think it's pretty obvious the satellites aren't drawn to scale, given they don't change in size when zooming in/out.

	▲	philipwhiuk 13 hours ago \| parent [-]
		But this is a fundamental problem with using it as a 'space is crowded' argument.

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blindflag a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I assumed they meant that relative distance from Earth or orbit is to scale, not that the size of the dots was to scale, but I could be wrong

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wanick 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Good point, the page now says it: distances are to scale, the dots are not.

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bbor 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Those are just UX elements -- indeed, no satellite other than maaaaaybe the ISS could be seen here. For one thing, anything in LEO would seem to be moving so darn fast that it'd be disorienting.

I imagine there's various similar problems -- Saturn's rings not having the exact right pattern, asteroids not matching their real shape, all the planets being perfect spheres, etc. But I think this resoundingly meets the bar for "a view of the Solar System". Maps and territories and all that, y'know? A quick sketch in a textbook can also be a "a view" while containing far less detail.

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philipwhiuk 13 hours ago | parent [-]

> For one thing, anything in LEO would seem to be moving so darn fast that it'd be disorienting.

They take ~90 minutes to orbit - it's not that quick. The satellites are actually moving at the right speed.

	▲	bbor an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Sorry, to clarify: if you zoomed in close enough to see the actual objects without digital labels, then they’d be going very fast

▲ boxed a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A way to zoom that is faster than mouse wheel would be nice. Takes forever to zoom out a long way!

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Oarch a day ago | parent [-]

Being able to zoom on mobile at all would be great. And a way to close all of the overlay panels!

	▲	wanick a day ago \| parent [-]
		Thanks, I've already fixed it.

▲ a day ago | parent | prev [-]

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