Scientific Illustration of Space Explorations

Description:

The aim of this project is to complete an interactive model of space explorations. The user will be able to navigate a scaled model of our solar system and view each planet or moon, along with the various missions launched to it. Navigation will be done entirely via mouse. The majority of the data for each mission will be represented with visual cues, with the minority (name, launch date) shown through text.

Here's an preliminary idea of what it may look like, though the text would not be included.

Goals:

Create solar system navigable through picking objects and dragging the mouse
Render missions via particle system
Allow user to view mission specifics through picking mission object
Allow user to use filter to find missions e.g. by country of origin, destination, objective
Nice to have: Animation of mission objects, planetary objects

Timeline:

• 2/8 - Decide on method of showing mission data, finish gathering data.
• 2/17 - Have solar system model including: planet placement, create textures, texture map reader, texture application
• 2/24 - Navigation by mouse gesture, picking. File reader for mission data.
• 3/2 - Particle system basics: placement, color. Picking of particle objects to show data.
• 3/7 - Curved 'Flight trails' for mission particles for ease of viewing
• 3/12 - GUI with selectable filters is present.
• 3/12-3/19 A week for debugging, optimization, and other miscellaneous fixing.

References:

50 Years of Space Exploration
Missions to Mars
"OpenGL Programming Guide 7th Edition", Ch7 Display Lists, Ch9 Texture Mapping (p414, 463),Ch13 Selection and Feedback (p614,646)
"Interactive Computer Graphics 5th Edition", Ch3.8 Picking, Ch5.7.2 Walking Through a Scene, Ch8.5.3 Picking, Ch9.7.3 Particle Systems