I Controls the Spacecraft.

[nanila]

I had one of those "Wow, I did that!" moments today.

My manager sent round a link to a beta version of a tool on the NASA-JPL web site called Eyes on the Solar System which, among other things, lets you visualize the movement of a spacecraft as it orbits a planet. Of course, I had to have a look at a Cassini manoeuvre. I picked one of the first calibration rolls that I ever designed, which took place on 4 December 2008.

Watching it made me go a bit teary-eyed. I helped make that happen, on a spacecraft orbiting a planet over a billion kilometres away. Wow.

Watch it here. The roll period starts at about 4 AM.

Comments

[weaverbird]

That is SO cool!

[nanila]

I keep thinking about it as, "I made a double-decker-bus-sized Thing go end over end! In SPAAACE!" :D

[magister]

That's very cool indeed. :)

[nanila]

There is so much neat stuff to play with on that tool! I always liked the Solar System Simulator (here), but this is the next step.

[wordweaverlynn]

That is so cool. Congratulations!

[nanila]

Thank you! You'd think I'd get inured to this after designing dozens of spacecraft rolls, but I don't. :D

[sunflowerinrain]

Oh wow, indeed.

[nanila]

It's spinning end over end! It's the size of a double-decker bus! I still can't get over that.

[lark_ascends]

I know after the other post, it may not be appropriate to comment here... but, I did want to say that this is awesome.

*hugs you hard*

[nanila]

No no, it's fine, thank you very much. It's good to be reminded that all is not gloom and darkness.

[pbristow]

Every time I try to watch this, it just sticks at "Waiting for Cassini to download." =:o{

One assumes one isn't waiting for a response from the craft itself...

[nanila]

Oh, that's annoying! I had that happen to me a couple of times. Maybe try loading the site without all the modifiers (http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/) and put in the date and time (04/12/2008 from about 3:30 AM to about 11 AM) yourself?

[pbristow]

Aha! Finally figured out the interface. The "waiting..." message was a red herring that vanished once I selected a "destination" of Cassini itself.

[20 Minutes later]
Auntie nanila, you're *mean*! You woke that poor little probe up at 4:20am and made it do summersaults *all morning*! It's a wonder the poor little mite didn't throw up or pass out... =:o>