Alternatives
Products that do what Celestial Vehicle Propulsion Simulator does
3D simulator that models planets, orbits, propulsion systems
- 1AOAtlas of Space▲770
Hello HN! Sharing a recent side project of mine, the Atlas of Space, that I built out to explore the Solar System. As a long-time space nerd, I realized recently that I didn't have a good intuition on the scale, speed, and relative orientation of the celestial bodies around us. So over the break I built out a kind of spatial Wikipedia to click around and learn about planets, moons, asteroids, and other bodies orbiting the Sun. The physics is all simulated in the browser using simple Newtonian mechanics. There's a lot left to do from here, including modeling objects in non-Keplerian orbits…
2025 · atlasof.space
- 2
- 3GI
Just for fun and self education, I've built this over a weekend to teach myself why orbits exist, not just show planets going around. Something that was never clearly explain to me in school. It opens with a guided tour that builds the idea up step by step: two bodies and the equal/opposite force, inertia (the Sun is removed and Earth just drifts straight), then "an orbit is falling and continuously missing," cosmic velocities with a little rocket, Voyager 1 & 2's real gravity assists (the clock runs the actual 1977–1989 dates so the planets orbit into their grand-tour alignment and the…
Jun 2026 · qunabu.github.io
- 4LL
2018 · github.com
- 5RL
I (17y/o) have been developing a rocket launch simulation that allows the user to explore what it's like launching a rocket from earth and putting it into orbit. This idea originally started as an educational simulation but as i've gone more down the rabbit hole the more i've wanted to make it realistic. The problem is that I've never had a formal orbital mechanics class or anything like that so I don't know what I'm missing, what I currently have implemented is: Variable gravity Variable Atmospheric drag (US Standard Atmosphere 1976) Multi-stage rockets Closed-loop guidance /…
Jan 2026 · donutthejedi.com
- 6MS
Did this a few years ago. Seems apropos. Sources and more here: https://github.com/EngineersNeedArt/Mooncraft2000
Apr 2026 · mooncraft2000.com
- 7
I built this with Claude cause I always wanted to tinker with a simulation economoy and I love space themes. A space-economy sim where nothing is scripted. A few hundred autonomous ships each run their own planner. Some chase the best trade route, take a delivery contract, refuel, retrofit at a shipyard, or dock so the crew can rest before morale tanks. Markets price everything off supply with shortage-urgency multipliers, factions tax and subsidize, populations migrate when they're unhappy, and stations that go broke get abandoned and rot. It started as an Elixir/Phoenix prototype, but…
Jul 2026 · github.com
- 8
- 9
- 10BB
Features include: - Several preset periodic orbits: the classic Figure-8, plus newly discovered 3D solutions from Li and Liao's recent database of 10,000+ orbits (https://arxiv.org/html/2508.08568v1) - Full 3D camera controls (rotate/pan/zoom) with body-following mode - Force and velocity vector visualization - Timeline scrubbing to explore the full orbital period The 3D presets are particularly interesting. Try "O₂(1.2)" or "Piano O₆(0.6)" from the Load Presets menu to see configurations where bodies weave in and out of the orbital plane. Most browser…
Nov 2025 · trisolarchaos.com
- 11IB
Mar 2026 · structuredlabs.github.io
- 12SA
This is a simulator of a frigate from about 1800. It has realistic physics, tuned to match historical performance. The UI is based around commands given in period naval language. Rather than use the current weather, it has a full year's weather data (for 1980 - taken from https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis2.html). This allows the weather to change realistically under time acceleration. To learn the basics of handling a square-rigged ship, start the "Harbour" scenario, click on the instructions button at the bottom left, and follow the instructions…
2023 · thapen.itch.io
- 13SB
2014 · imakesnowflakes.com
- 14
- 15IM
I made this site using R3F (https://github.com/pmndrs/react-three-fiber), a React renderer for 3JS (https://threejs.org/). The celestial bodies are Three.JS meshes. I used loaders (namely 'useLoader' from R3F and 'GLTFLoader' from 3JS) to import 3D models, such as International Space Station. More on loading models in R3F: https://docs.pmnd.rs/react-three-fiber/tutorials/loading-mod... I've future plans for this side project. It would be great to hear from the HN community before diving into them. Enjoy! P.S: Getting an empty…
2022 · spaceinbrowser.com
- 16
- 17EA
Hey HN! We are the co-founders of Elodin (https://elodin.systems/), a code-first physics simulation framework. We just open-sourced our core libraries on Github: https://github.com/elodin-sys/elodin Have you ever wondered what happens when a satellite is first placed into orbit? It turns out that often, they tumble out of control, end over end, in a miraculous fight against stability. Check out our demo here of a control system attempting to rectify this: https://app.elodin.systems/sandbox/hn/cube-sat The spacecraft does not…
2024 · github.com
- 18
- 19ED
Hi HN! I'm working on an open-world multiplayer space sim with submarine-warfare-inspired combat. Crew a ship, haul cargo, run heists, hunt your foes with passive and active sensors. Browser-based, free, no install. Some of its features: - Submarine-style passive sensors. Contacts start as a bearing line (direction, no distance), resolve into an uncertainty circle, then into a full track. You triangulate over time by moving. - Silent running. Cut your emissions and witnesses can't ID you. - Newtonian flight. No drag, no auto-brake. Flip 180° and burn to stop. - Boarding combat. Dock with…
Apr 2026 · everestdrive.io
- 20
- 21IB
I built this because measuring my age in years felt boring—I wanted to see the kilometers. The first version only used Earth's orbital speed (~30km/s), but the number moved too slowly. To get the "existential dread" feeling, I switched to using the Milky Way's velocity relative to the CMB (~600km/s). The math takes some liberties (using scalar sum instead of vector) to make the speed feel "fast," but it gets the point across. Under the hood, it's a single HTML file with zero dependencies. No React, no build step. The main challenge was the canvas starfield—I had to pre-allocate the…
Jan 2026 · cosmic-odometer.vercel.app
- 22
- 23AS
The little particles will gravitate to your cursor (or touch location), and can even enter stable orbits if the conditions are right! Mainly an excuse for me to experiment with wasm and WebGL, but it makes for a surprisingly good fidget toy.
2024 · aestuans.github.io
- 24AS
I didn't realize Universe Sandbox ran on MacOS, and I was in the mood to play around a bit. Some functions it's got: - Random system generation - Sonification is super fun too - Habitability Simulation (Just for fun, don't cite this please) - Replacing, spawning, deleting objects I've had tons of fun building this, so I hope someone else can share the joy. It's free and runs in the browser. I'd love to hear any feedback. I think this is at a state where I might leave it as it is, but if people are interested in other features, maybe I'll keep working on it. I've kept saying I'll stop working…
Dec 2025 · luna.watermelonson.com
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Refine with a description →