Design a Solar System–Be a Space-God

Posted on by John Holst
You Spin Me Right Round--Haven't crashed my planets, yet. Click on picture to go to the site.
You Spin Me Right Round–Haven’t crashed my planets, yet.

Or if you don’t want the title of Space-God then at least this shows off your attempts to build a solar system and eventually get over 150,000,000 points.  The game, Super Planet Crash, is free to play in your browser.  The game’s designer, Stefano Meschiari, states on his site that the game will even play on most tablets.

Stefano is challenging all visitors to his site to fit as many planetary bodies in the 2 AU circle, without crashing them for 500 years.  It’s harder than it sounds.  There are sure to be solar system building geniuses out there, though.  Go to this part of his site for the details.  Asteroids not included.  I will be adding this to the “Fun Ways to Learn Space Operations” links, too.

Stefano is an astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin.  He apparently has programming chops as evidenced by his Super Planet Crash game.  But his bio says he’s also interested “in simulating the evolution of protoplanetary disks, the characterization of extrasolar planets, citizen science-driven projects and hydrodynamical and N-body codes.”

Did you get that?  Hello?

Okay, now that you’re back, here’s a Make DIY Space project for you–Constellation Flashlight discs!!!  Go here for details:  http://makezine.com/craft/how-to-constellation-flashlight-discs/

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Published by John Holst

Ill-Defined Space is written by me, John Holst. ​If you’ve ever asked the following question, “What is this commercial space industry thing?” then welcome to my world. I will never have the answer to that question, but I do offer insights based on my industry experience and observations. I’ve tried defining, decrypting, deciphering, analyzing, and then translating the endless stream of the world’s space industry activities, policies, and press releases. I’ve experienced varying degrees of success in my attempts to do so. The upshot is that if you want thoughtful, occasionally useful, observations about the world’s space industry, then you may want to read my analyses. Boring, but potentially credibility-building information follows: I have a Master’s in Commercial Enterprise in Space through the Florida Institute of Technology. I was an undergrad at the University of Washington in Seattle, graduating from there with a degree in Journalism. My analysis of the space industry has been a definitive source for national lawmakers and departments, news outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, and the San Francisco Chronicle, publications like National Geographic, and National Public Radio. It’s been published in The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity from 2014-2023 (here’s a link to a 1Q19 promo copy). You can also see my work in Quilty Analytic’s series of LEO Broadband Reports. ​ I’ve worked in the United States Air Force, Missile Defense Agency, Cobham, Space Dynamics Laboratory, the Space Foundation, and Quilty Analytics. I focused on space operations in the first few and conducted space industry research and analysis with the last two.