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Posted by: Astro0 Nov 4 2010, 02:21 AM

Eyes on the Solar System is JPLs cool new tool for we 'armchair explorers' to use and follow spacecraft as they explore space.
Check it out http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/.

As Doug said: ...go find the NEAR mission and watch it's orbital phase with Eros.... see the Pioneer 11 flyby of Jupiter, and go 'OMFG' at the Ulysses trajectory. There's a million things we're still trying to put into it - chances are any suggestions someone might have, we've already got it on a very very unfunded list of 'love to put in...' - but make suggestions

So go for it. Try it out and if you have some cool ideas, leave a message here.

Posted by: dmuller Nov 4 2010, 03:50 AM

WOW!

Any chance to have a module which could be incorporated into other websites (e.g. auto-image), or iframe in a small application. Very very selfishly thinking of my realtime simulations, eg. http://www.dmuller.net/dawn

Posted by: djellison Nov 4 2010, 04:56 AM

It's a thought. We're using the same data you do basically ( SPICE ) so they should tie up. The system is very very flexible ( look at the URL for the EPOXI Live, for example - it just calles Eyes... with a document that defines the 'live' experience, and this could be done for just about anything.

Meanwhile - if anyone's thinking "wtf?"

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/tutorials.html

Yup - that was me, in a recording booth, for 3 hrs.

Posted by: dmuller Nov 4 2010, 05:51 AM

The web unity player just crashed my firefox ... :-(
Anyway, personally, I would prefer if it could create a "snapshot" of the view, similar to the solar system simulator, as the whole application takes a long time to read, and I fear interference with my javascripts.

Meanwhile, do you have a "url map" to the live missions you cover? I can use that to provide a link from my pages to Eyes on a mission by mission basis.

Posted by: djellison Nov 4 2010, 06:03 AM

Nope - we don't have that link-straight-in ability yet. We will though, eventually. And yeah - Unity has issues, but it's essentially the only technique to do what we're doing in a browser.

We're shifting from Unity 2.6 to 3.0 soon, which MAY, we HOPE, solve some of the problems. Most of them are with the plugin sadly.

Posted by: 4th rock from the sun Nov 4 2010, 10:52 AM

The plug-in will always give you trouble...

Why not go for the less powerful but very effective Flash using a 3D engine such as Away3D ?
Here's a simple demo of what performance to expect:
http://www.everydayflash.com/flash/away/

Of course, not exactly the same thing, but everybody will get the same results.

Posted by: djellison Nov 4 2010, 11:15 AM

I can think of no plugin I hate more than Flash. It does a great job of turning a mac laptop into a toasted sandwich maker.

We're 12 months into EotSS, so a major platform change is out of the question, plus the dev team is working from the Unity experience built from CASSIE and Eyes on the Earth before this.

We use Unity because, really, it's the best for the job. 'Less powerful' isn't an option given what we're trying to do. I can put you in touch with one of the devs if you really want this discussion

Have you actually tried EotSS

Posted by: Poolio Nov 4 2010, 12:14 PM

Oh, wow. This is amazing. I am stunned by the range and depth of features, and the crispness of the visuals. Still learning to navigate efficiently. Is there a way to turn off objects once they're turned on? I have asteroids and spacecraft everywhere. Just scratching the surface still; I can't wait to delve in deeper!

I'm going to be late for work now and it's all your fault.

Posted by: dmuller Nov 4 2010, 12:27 PM

One of the reasons why I stick to good old javascript ... not perfect either, not powerful (but I don't program graphics anyway) ... but at least no plug-ins!

Posted by: 4th rock from the sun Nov 4 2010, 12:41 PM

Tried... couldn't get it to install on my low end PC at the office with Firefox. About Flash... I'll just say that it simply works across a wide range of machines.

To keep things short and focused on the point I'm trying to make, plug-ins like Unity are great, but will give you performance and installation problems in a school or small community scenery, with outdated or less powerful PCs. Also, you will have the potential problems of needing administrator access to download and install the plug-in.

Of course, if you are targeting a specific audience, with good knowledge of software and a nice PC, then yes, Unity is the best option.

Posted by: eoincampbell Nov 4 2010, 02:11 PM

Everything working well and zipping along on my new mac mini... Awesome!

Posted by: JohnVV Nov 5 2010, 12:08 AM

i will stick with celestia , my maps, and the spice kernels
I do not need yet another different browser app using a different version of flash on a different platform using different parts of flash

Posted by: djellison Nov 5 2010, 12:57 AM

Just for the record - Eyes on the Solar System uses the very same spice kernels, and doesn't use flash.

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Mar 10 2011, 05:27 AM

PC World Raves Over JPL's "Eyes on the Solar System"
http://www.pcworld.com/article/221783/control_space_and_time_with_nasas_e

Posted by: nprev Mar 10 2011, 06:04 AM

Attaboy, Doug!

Posted by: djellison Mar 10 2011, 01:41 PM

I was giving the writer a demo yesterday or the day before - no idea whatsoever that she was 'media'

The Kudos goes to Jon, Paul and Anton for the programming work, Brian, Christian and Chris for the 3D work. I'm just lucky enough to get to show it off.

Posted by: Astro0 Sep 5 2011, 10:16 AM

Great that there has been a link on the JPL site for a while, but nice to finally see a dedicated http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=6793 promoting Eyes.

Try it for the first time http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/
or if you haven't looked in a while, then check out new features like the ultra-cool 3D mode and all the spacecraft model updates (the Pioneers are back!)

If you do any Outreach work then you definitely want to use Eyes on the Solar System.
If you just enjoy space exploration, then share Eyes with others as well as it's cousin http://climate.nasa.gov/Eyes/eyes.html.

Saw it at the last JPL Open House and still wishing for Eyes on the Network (DSN) to get a public consumption release one day.
It was a perfect way to demonstrate the world wide system of antennas communicating with spacecraft across the solar system and beyond.

All three programs literally bring 'mission control' to your home.

Posted by: JTN Aug 9 2012, 02:26 PM

So... I saw that Eyes now appears to be Java-based, raising my hopes that it might now be usable on Linux. But enabling Java, I just get a little grey Java window that does nothing.

It's described as a "Java launched version", and system requirements are still Windows or Mac. But it's also described as "No game-engine plug-in required", contrasting with "The classic version requires installing the Unity 3D Web Player plugin for your web browser." But there's not much more technical info.

What's going on under the hood, and is there any hope of ever persuading it to go on Linux? Is it somehow a Java wrapper for native code (Unity in non-plugin form?) that is platform-specific?

Sorry if this upgrade was covered elsewhere -- I've not yet managed to find any more details by searching either this forum or the Eyes website.

Posted by: djellison Aug 9 2012, 02:38 PM

Bingo. "Is it somehow a Java wrapper for native code (Unity in non-plugin form?) that is platform-specific?" is exactly right.

The team uses Unity to develop (so we can continue to offer the legacy browser plugin version) but as yet, there is no Linux support within Unity.

Linux support is allegedly appearing in Unity 4 - at which point we will try and support it.

Posted by: JTN Aug 9 2012, 06:33 PM

Thx -- will look forward patiently to that possibility

Posted by: akuo Aug 26 2012, 06:24 PM

Currently MRO drops from the Martian sky on Aug 27th at 17:43 UTC in my Eyes on the Solar system :-P

Posted by: djellison Aug 26 2012, 06:55 PM

We get data updates every couple of weeks. That's when the last batch of data runs out. You'll be able to find the same thing with many many spacecraft if you look close enough.