About Orbiter

ORBITER is a free flight simulator that goes beyond the confines of Earth's atmosphere. Launch the Space Shuttle from Kennedy Space Center to deploy a satellite, rendezvous with the International Space Station or take the futuristic Delta-glider for a tour through the solar system - the choice is yours.
But make no mistake - ORBITER is not a space shooter. The emphasis is firmly on realism, and the learning curve can be steep. Be prepared to invest some time and effort to brush up on your orbital mechanics background. Good starting points are JPL's Basics of Space Flight, and R. Braeunig's Rocket & Space Technology.

For discussion with other Orbiter users, have a look at one of the Orbiter forums. More information and resources for users and developers can be found under the Orbiter Wikipedia entry and the OrbiterWiki site, both maintained by the Orbiter community.

News

November 6, 2008: Orbiter Forum: Sponsorship Appeal

The forum at orbiter-forum.com is becoming a hugely popular meeting place for spaceflight enthusiasts, and thanks to skyrocketing visitor numbers now requires a dedicated server solution. If you are willing to sponsor or host the Orbiter forum, please click the link above for more details. More information about Orbiter can be found in the Mission statement.

September 29, 2006: New Release: PATCH 1 for ORBITER 2006

This patch upgrades Orbiter 2006 to 2006-P1 (patch level 1) and brings some significant new features and bug fixes to the 2006 Edition. Some highlights:

Improved dynamic state propagation More accurate integration methods for linear and angular spacecraft states provide better long-term stability. Many of the parameters of the dynamic model can now be modified by the user.

New Atlantis Space Shuttle An improved version by Michael Grosberg and Don Gallagher is now included. Apart from the Shuttle exterior, this also features a detailed virtual cockpit with working MFDs and payload bay operations.

Multiple camera positions for virtual cockpits, used by Atlantis and Deltaglider models. Support for the TrackIR head tracking device is also provided.

New "Extra" tab in the Launchpad dialog This provides advanced simulation parameter options, and can also be utilised for addon configuration.

Various additional features and bug fixes For a detailed list of changes, see "2006 Edition log.txt" in the Doc folder of your Orbiter installation.

May 4, 2006: New Release: ORBITER 2006 Edition

Improved planetary surface rendering Planets can now be rendered at twice the resolution of the previous version. In low orbits and close to the surface, this provides a significant improvement in visual appearance. Other new features include "specular ripples" on ocean surfaces, and better coastline transitions.

Flight recorder and playback function Simulations can now be recorded and replayed. Together with the option of annotating recorded flights, this opens a new dimension for demonstrations and tutorials. Several annotated tutorial recordings are included.

Scenario editor A new editor module allows to create, edit and delete spacecraft in a running simulation. Creating scenarios is now much easier.

Visual helpers Force vectors and coordinate axes for vessels can now be shown directly in the simulation window.

External MFDs Multifunctional displays can now be opened in separate windows. They provide more information, and are also available in external views.

Mouse-active Glass Cockpit The generic "glass cockpit" view now includes buttons for MFDs and most common operations, so even ships which lack custom instrument panels can be operated without memorizing many key commands.

Enhanced lighting effects Spacecraft can now enter a planet's shadow. Support for light beacons has been added to help find them in the dark.

Improved physics Gravity-gradient torque effects are now implemented. Vessels in low orbit will now experience torques as a result of their mass distribution. Orbiter's model of angular motion has also been extensively overhauled.

A more detailed list of new features can be found in the Change Log.

Key features

Realistic physics. Planetary motion, gravitation effects, free space and atmospheric flight are accurately modelled.
You can land your ship at a space port on a planet surface, or dock to an orbital station.
High resolution planetary maps provide some nice visual effects.
Configurable environment. Users can add planets, space ships and space stations to the existing universe, or design a completely new solar system from scratch. The Orbiter Software Development Kit contains libraries and sample C++ code for addon developers who want to write plugins.

Disclaimer

ORBITER is an ongoing project and not a finished product in any sense. I may upgrade it from time to time and post new releases at this site.
I provide the software as is, without any support whatsoever. I do not accept any responsibility for problems arising from its use. See the Disclaimer page for details.