Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Space Modeler: An Expanded, Distributed, Virtual Environment For Space Visualization, John C. Vanderburgh

Theses and Dissertations

The Space Modeler is the first truly immersive virtual environment that models the solar system, models satellites in near-Earth orbit, and can operate in a Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) environment. It increases the capabilities of the 1993 Satellite Modeler by expanding the physical limits of the environment and by implementing a new three-dimensional user interface. Satellite orbits are modeled using NASA two line element sets. The positions of the Sun, Moon and planets are computed using an algorithm based on planetary orbital element sets using a linear polynomial fit. For higher precision, the planetary orbits can be computed using an …