Beta-11: Version 0.18.0

This page contains information about the eleventh beta release, version 0.18.0, of OpenSpace as released on May 6, 2022. Release notes for users and a complete changelog are available on our Wiki.

A precompiled binary for Mac and Windows operating systems are available, and the source code is freely available on GitHub to peruse and compile for missing platforms. The commit hash of this released version is 5877112103cdcb894695c214c21c15d2625fbe0b.

Questions?

Check out available Resources and Tutorials, join our Slack workspace and Reddit, and view known or submit new issues on our GitHub.

Requirements

Minimum requirements: OpenSpace is designed for use on laptops up to planetarium domes. A minimum i5 processor and Nvidia 1060 GTX GPU (or comparable), 8 GB RAM, and 4 GB VRAM are required. Apple’s M1 processor is not currently supported. For details on requirements by profile, see our Wiki.

For optimal use: We recommend using Windows 10 or Mac operating system Catalina 10.15 or newer. We recommend a machine with 16 GB RAM and 6 GB VRAM or more.

Windows users: You will also need to install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2019, which you can download here. If you experience the error “VCRUNTIME140_1.dll was not found,” the Redistributable installation will fix this.

Additionally, OpenSpace will ask for permission to access the internet which causes a Windows popup window. If you do not give OpenSpace that permission, some important features, such as the user interface, will be inaccessible.

Mac users: Apple’s M1 processor is not supported. You may need to allow the package to install by adjusting your security settings to trust an unidentified developer. You also may need to change the OpenSpace folder permissions to allow it to Read & Write all items in a folder. We suggest to install OpenSpace somewhere that is not the regular Application folder for best compatibility.

For Mac and Windows installation tutorial videos, visit our Wiki.

Download

This download includes the OpenSpace application and all necessary data for the default Profile — if another Profile is selected, the required datasets will download on startup. 

Additional datasets

These datasets add high-resolution images and digital terrain patches on the surface of Mars, Mercury, and Moon. They are not required but expand the data available in the standard OpenSpace download. The zip files can be extracted at any location, though an SSD is recommended for a smoother experience. Also check out the OpenSpace Hub for assets created by the OpenSpace community that can be added to OpenSpace.

Mars Download: Extra downloads of high resolution HiRISE patches (images and terrain model) on Mars. The zip download is 12.2 GB.
Mercury Download: Extra downloads of terrain patches created by the MESSENGER mission. The zip download is 36 MB.
Moon Download: Extra downloads of terrain patches for the Apollo missions to the Moon. The zip download is 7.1 GB.

While it is possible to change the location in which these are stored (by editing the OpenSpace/data/assets/customization/globebrowsing.asset file), a good location is a sister directory to the OpenSpace folder named OpenSpaceData (for example, if you installed OpenSpace in C:\OpenSpace\0.16.0, the folder for the optional planetary datasets would be C:\OpenSpaceData\Mars, C:\OpenSpaceData\Mercury, etc.) This should enable the additional datasets to be loaded into the Layers list. If you are editing the globebrowsing.asset manually, please note not to use \ in the paths and only use / as otherwise error messages will be generated at startup.

Profiles

This version of OpenSpace comes with 15 OpenSpace profiles. (See our Wiki for how to edit profiles and create your own.) Select your desired profile when you launch the OpenSpace application, found in the bin folder. Below find a brief description of each profile, organized alphabetically after Default. See our Resources and Wiki for more.

Default and default_full

This profile is enabled on default and provides the ability to look at detailed terrain models of the Earth, Moon, Mars, other planets, and the Digital Universe extrasolar catalog. Default_full has more optional content, including Earth satellites and more moons in our solar system.

The view defaults on Earth at the current time with the ESRI VIIRS Combo enabled. This uses the Suomi VIIRS daily images when viewing the whole Earth, and switches to high-detail imagery from ESRI when zooming in.

Apollo

This profile contains models and trajectories for the NASA Apollo 8 mission circling the Moon, including when the iconic “Earthrise” image was photographed. It also contains additional datasets showing the landing sites of Apollo 11 and 17, and photogrammetry of boulders from Apollo 17 station sites.

Additional profile keybindings:
E: Jump to the time of the Apollo 8 Earthrise picture
U: Jump to the launch time of Apollo 8
K: Toggles the visibility of the Kaguya layer on the Moon; useful when viewing the high-resolution inset of Apollo 17
T: Toggles visibility of the Apollo 8 trail around the moon
Shift+T: Toggles the visibility of the Apollo 8 launch trail
Ctrl+T: Toggles the visibility of the entire Apollo 8 trail
S: Toggles shading for the Moon
Page Up: Focus on Apollo 8
Page Down: Focus on the Moon
Home: Focus on Earth

Asteroids

This profile shows approximately 936,000 asteroids from the JPL Horizons Small-Body Database (SBDB). Included in this profile (and defined on our wiki): Amor Asteroids, Apollo Asteroids, Aten Asteroids, Atira Asteroids, Centaur Asteroids, Chiron-Type Comets, Encke-Type Comets, Halley-Type Comets, Inner Main Asteroid Belt Asteroids, Jupiter Family Comets, Jupiter Trojan Asteroids, Main Asteroid Belt Asteroids, Mars-Crossing Asteroids, Outer Main Asteroid Belt Asteroids, Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), and Trans-Neptunian Asteroids.

NEW: Bastille Day 2000

This profile shows the Coronal mass ejection (CME) that occurred on Bastille Day, July 14, 2000. The profile is data heavy and will require a powerful graphics card (GPU). This CME event might be the most studied solar storm so far. The visualizations to highlight the CME include: a volume rendering of the density of the material ejected from the sun; field lines showing the Sun’s magnetic structure; magnetograms which are texture layers on the sun showing variation in strength of the magnetic field; an extreme ultra violet (EUV) image sequence layer shown on the sun; a light speed indicator to compare the speed of the CME; cut plane sequences showing the flux values of the CME, one equatorial cut plane and one meridional. Also there are flux nodes that show flux values, which are accompanied by a legend describing the color scheme. Showing all different visualization parts at once, may make the scene cluttered so hotkeys are provided to toggle different parts on and off.

Additional profile keybindings:
CTRL+1 through CTRL+4: Starts loops to highlight the CME event. In order from 1-4 they are called short loop, standard loop, fast loop and long loop.
R: Resets the loops, to make them stop loopingN: Show legend
M: Hide legendD: Toggle the density volume
E: Toggle the EUV layer (must be turned off to show magnetograms)
I: Switch different color layers of the magnetogram
O: Toggles the flux nodes
U: Toggles the field lines
P: Toggles the equatorial cut plane
Left bracket '[': Toggles the meridional cut plane

Gaia

This profile contains a new rendering method to show the dataset from ESA Gaia’s Data Release 2 (DR2). By default, it loads 7.224 million stars of the Gaia DR2 that contain radial velocities.

Juno

This profile is a work in progress. It shows a model and approach of the NASA Juno space probe to the Jupiter system and its initial orbits around the gas planet in July 2016. Future work will include visualization of the Juno cam imaging.

UPDATED: James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

This profile visualizes the NASA-ESA-CAN James Webb Space Telescope, which launched on December 25, 2021. The profile includes two visualizations of the Webb trail: One plotted with respect to the Earth-Sun L2, where it will be stationed; and another with respect to the Sun, as we plot the orbits of the planets. The profile includes a dynamic model of Webb and a time lapse of its deployment and unfolding. The profile includes the capability to point the telescope with an associated view frustum to any celestial coordinates. The orientation can be controlled by entering Right Ascension (R.A.) and Declination (Dec.) on an external webpage.

Mars

This profile adds visualizations for the NASA Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission, including a trajectory towards Mars, model of lander, entry into the Martian atmosphere, and subsequent descent and landing on November 26, 2018; and NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, including a trajectory and model of Perseverance rover on the surface.

Messenger

This profile contains a model and trajectory of the NASA MESSENGER spacecraft with craft pointing data from March to June 2011. In addition, a rendering of Mercury’s magnetosphere based on data recorded by MESSENGER can be enabled and viewed around the planet. Along with the mission data, additional maps were added to Mercury showing element abundances on the surface and a multi-color mosaic from the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) instrument.

New Horizons

This profile shows the acquisition of NASA New Horizons’ images of the Plutonian system in July 2015. The profile starts at around 10:00 GMT on July 14, about 10 minutes before a new image campaign starts. By selecting Pluto as the Focus and moving time faster, you can see the imprint of the instrument’s field-of-view on the planetary surface and see the images being projected. A timer on the top left of the screen shows when the next image is being taken.

Additional keybindings:
A: Focus the camera on the New Horizons spacecraft
S: Focus the camera on Pluto
D: Focus the camera on Charon
L: Toggle the visibility of the labels of New Horizons’ instruments
J: Toggle the visibility of the labels for Pluto and its moons
Shift+T: Toggle the visibility of Pluto’s and Charon’s shadows
F7: Toggles the image projections
F8: Remove the already projected images from the surface
F9: Jump to the start time and remove all image projections
Keypad 8, Keypad 2: Increase and decrease the height exaggeration on Pluto to show the terrain structure
Keypad 9, Keypad 3: Increase and decrease the height exaggeration on Charon to show the terrain structure

Osiris-Rex

This profile demonstrates the entire lifetime of the NASA OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) spacecraft on its way to the 101955 Bennu asteroid and its subsequent journey back to Earth. The profile starts at Earth before the spacecraft’s launch and has information throughout the entire mission until the sample’s 2023 landing back in Utah. Models of OSIRIS-REx and Bennu are available, as well as a preliminary instrument timing and some of the imaging campaign, which uses the same projection technique as employed in the New Horizons and Rosetta profiles.

Additional keybindings:
A: Focus the camera on OSIRIS-REx
S: Focus the camera on Bennu
F6: Sets the time to the launch time
F7: Sets the time to the Earth gravity assist
F8: Sets the time to the approach time at Bennu
F9: Sets the time to the preliminary survey of Bennu
F10: Sets the time to the orbital Bennu event
F11: Sets the time to the recon event

Rosetta

This profile shows the entire mission of the ESA Rosetta spacecraft around comet 67P, also known as Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The spacecraft’s images are projected onto the comet and the separation of the Philae lander is visible as well.

Additional keybindings:
A: Focus the camera on the 67P comet
S: Focus the camera on the Rosetta spacecraft
I: Toggle the visibility of the free-floating image plane
P: Toggles the image projection of Rosetta; useful if making long time jumps and not wanting to wait for the image projections to occur
F: Toggles the visibility of Philae’s trail
F5: Jumps to the initial approach of Rosetta to 67P
F6: Jumps to the time when the Philae lander is released
F8: Removes all image projections from 67P

NEW: Solar Storm 2012

This profile is showing several coronal mass ejection (CMEs) during July 2012, where the last one was incredible intense. Its strength was comparable to the most intense CME in recorded history, the Carrington Event of 1859, which caused damage to electric equipment world wide. Luckily this 2012 event missed Earth. The event is modeled with ENLIL which spands across the solar system, from the Sun to Earth, Batsrus which is showing the interaction of the flow of the solar wind and Earths magnetosphere. There is also one time step of the PFSS model showing the Suns local magnetic structure.

Additional keybindings:
D: Toggles between darkening the sun and showing the surface of the Sun
E: Starts a loop that best highlights the ENLIL model (Recomended is to have the whole solarsystem in view)
B: Starts a loop that best highlights the BATSRUS model (Recomended is to have mostely the Earth-moon system in view)
R: Resets the loops, to make them stop looping

Touch

This profile provides five demonstration experiences for a Windows touch table: Explore the galaxies, explore the solar system, explore Jupiter and its moons, explore weather events on Earth, and explore interesting sites on Mars. These experiences were created by students as examples. OpenSpace users can create their own experiences with the content they would like to show.

Voyager

This profile contains the NASA Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions as they were launched from Earth in the 1970s and observed the gas giants in the solar system. The spacecraft models are included and are pointed accurately throughout the mission. Position and orientation information are available until the second half of the 21st century.