January 16, 2005: New release: ORBITER 2005 Edition
http://www.orbitersim.comVirtual cockpits: Orbiter now supports 3-D virtual spacecraft cockpits. This takes Orbiter to a new level of immersion and enhances situational awareness by providing a rotating camera viewpoint. Instrument displays are fully functional, and buttons and switches can be operated with the mouse. The Orbiter distribution provides a reference cockpit implementation for the Delta-glider, but addon spacecraft can be upgraded using the virtual cockpit programming interface.
New visual effects: New atmospheric haze rendering make planets appear much more realistic from orbit. Looking towards the horizon in low Earth orbit shows the increasing effect of haze blurring of surface features. Spacecraft, buildings and even smoke trails now cast a shadow on the ground, providing more attractive visuals and a useful altitude cue.
More accurate astrodynamics: A lot of effort has gone into improving Orbiter's physical engine. Planetary ephemeris codes have been extensively redesigned. The sun is no longer fixed in the centre of the solar system, but rotates around the barycentre. Earth's moon uses a more accurate perturbation solution. Jupiter's four largest moons are now also controlled by a semi-analytic perturbation code, improving long-term stability. Perturbations of the gravitational field due to nonspherical planet shapes are now supported.
New delta-glider: One of Orbiter's favourite spacecraft has been completely redesigned. Apart from a new exterior mesh and virtual cockpit contributed by Roger Long, it has also undergone a functional upgrade, including a version with air-breathing scramjet engines.
Better orbital flight model: Orbiter now uses a new method of orbit stabilisation during time compression. It calculates the osculating orbital elements of the primary gravity source, and dynamically propagates only the perturbations of this 2-body model. This provides better stability of trajectories - invaluable for interplanetary trips.
New help system: A context-sensitive HTML-based help system provides information about a particular spacecraft, instrument or simulation scenario. This greatly enhances the ability to design tutorials and in-game reference material.
Markers and labels: A variety of configurable surface markers and celestial labels can now be displayed in Orbiter's "Planetarium" mode. They can be used to identify places of interest, landmarks, historical landing sites, guidance stars or other celestial objects.
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.
