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A 3-D simulation for controlling and maneuvering spacecraft through real orbital mechanics, using Newtonian gravity and Keplerian dynamics. Built in C++ and OpenGL.
A real-time 3D Spacecraft Control System Simulation built with C++ and OpenGL 3.3. All eight planets orbit the Sun with accurate sizes, orbital periods, axial tilts, and real-world inclinations relative to the ecliptic plane. Planet positions are seeded from live JPL Horizons data on startup when a network connection is available. A full spacecraft mission system lets you place a crewed vehicle in orbit around any body and fly it with engine and attitude controls.
.gltf / .glb) for the spacecraft| Requirement | Version |
|---|---|
| Windows | 10 or 11 (64-bit) |
| Visual Studio | 2019 or later — Desktop development with C++ workload |
| CMake | 3.16 or later — https://cmake.org/download/ |
| Git | Any recent version — https://git-scm.com/download/win |
| GPU | OpenGL 3.3 support (any GPU from ~2010 or later) |
You do not need to install any libraries manually. CMake's FetchContent downloads and compiles GLFW, GLM, GLAD, Dear ImGui, tinygltf, nlohmann/json, and libcurl automatically on first configure. An internet connection is required for the first build.
Spacecraft-Control-System-Simulation/
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── README.md
├── build.bat One-click Windows build script
├── src/ C++ source files
├── shaders/ GLSL vertex and fragment shaders
├── textures/ Planet textures, skybox panorama
│ ├── Unreal Assets/ MS_Sun_BaseColor.png (sun texture)
│ └── 3d SpaceCraft Assets/ Spacecraft .gltf / .glb models
├── models/ Optional high-quality planet glTF meshes
└── bin/
└── Release/ Built executable + copied assets (run from here)
The following textures are expected in the textures/ folder. The Solar System Scope texture pack (CC-BY 4.0) provides all of these at the expected filenames. If your filenames differ, edit the texturePath strings in src/SolarSystem.cpp.
| File | Body | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Unreal Assets/MS_Sun_BaseColor.png | Sun | High-resolution sun surface |
2k_mercury.jpg | Mercury | |
2k_venus_atmosphere.jpg | Venus | Cloud-top view |
2k_earth_daymap.jpg | Earth | |
2k_moon.jpg | Moon | |
2k_mars.jpg | Mars | |
2k_jupiter.jpg | Jupiter | |
2k_saturn.jpg | Saturn | |
2k_saturn_ring_alpha.png | Saturn rings | PNG with alpha channel required |
2k_uranus.jpg | Uranus | |
2k_neptune.jpg | Neptune | |
milkywayPanorama.png | Skybox | Equirectangular Milky Way panorama |
Missing textures are silently skipped; the program still runs with a placeholder.
Double-click build.bat in File Explorer, or run it from a command prompt:
cd C:\Spacecraft-Control-System-Simulation
build.bat
The first build takes 5–10 minutes while CMake downloads and compiles all dependencies. Subsequent builds are fast. The executable is placed at:
bin\Release\SpacecraftControlSystemSimulation.exe
cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build --config Release
Open the SpacecraftControlSystemSimulation folder using File → Open → Folder. Visual Studio detects the CMakeLists.txt automatically. Select SpacecraftControlSystemSimulation.exe as the startup item and press F5 to build and run.
| Error | Fix |
|---|---|
'git' is not recognized | Install Git and choose "Git from the command line" during setup |
| CMake can't find a compiler | Run build.bat from a Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio (Start Menu → Visual Studio 2022 → Developer Command Prompt) |
| Build fails on first run | Make sure you have an internet connection — FetchContent needs to download dependencies |
Double-click bin\Release\SpacecraftControlSystemSimulation.exe. The app launches maximized with the solar system visible and two control sidebars.
Note: The app contacts the JPL Horizons API on startup to seed accurate planet positions for today's date. If you are offline it falls back to analytic positions automatically — no action required.
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Right-click + drag | Rotate camera around the focus point |
| Scroll wheel | Zoom in / out |
| Click a planet name (left panel) | Jump camera focus to that planet |
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Up / Down arrows | Pitch nose up / down |
| Left / Right arrows | Yaw left / right |
| Q / E | Roll clockwise / counter-clockwise |
| X | Kill rotation (zero angular velocity instantly) |
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| F | Toggle engine on / off |
| Z | Throttle up (hold) |
| C | Throttle down (hold) |
| Throttle bar (navball area) | Click or drag to set throttle directly |
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Escape | Quit |
Shows live telemetry for the active spacecraft: position, orbital velocity, orbital elements (semi-major axis, eccentricity, inclination, period), engine state, throttle, fuel remaining, and attitude (Pitch/Yaw/Roll from LVLH frame).
Displayed at the bottom-center of the viewport when a spacecraft is active. Shows spacecraft attitude relative to the orbital Local Vertical / Local Horizontal (LVLH) frame.
| Marker | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| PRO | Yellow | Prograde — direction of orbital velocity |
| RET | Yellow | Retrograde |
| RAD | Cyan | Radially away from orbited body |
| ARAD | Cyan | Radially toward orbited body |
| N / -N | Purple | Orbital normal (perpendicular to orbit plane) |
| Crosshair | White | Spacecraft nose direction |
Markers are dimmed when on the back hemisphere. The throttle bar is displayed to the right of the navball.
| Section | Option | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Display | Checkboxes + color pickers | Toggle and colorize planet/spacecraft frames and orbit paths |
| Scale | Compact / Realistic radio | Compact compresses orbits ~500× for easy viewing; Realistic uses true proportional distances |
| Scale | Orbit compression slider | Controls how compressed Compact mode is |
| Scale | Planet / Sun size multipliers | Scale visual body sizes independently of orbit scale |
| Visuals | Sun brightness | Emissive intensity of the sun surface |
| Visuals | Skybox brightness | 0 = black, 1 = neutral, 2 = overexposed |
| Visuals | Skybox Yaw / Pitch / Roll | Rotate the Milky Way panorama to your preferred orientation |
| Physics | Patched Conics | Fast Keplerian ellipses with instant sphere-of-influence transitions |
| Physics | N-Body RK4 | Full gravitational simulation from all planets (more accurate, slower at high time scales) |
| File | Role |
|---|---|
src/main.cpp | Window setup, main loop, all ImGui UI, input handling, overlay rendering |
src/SolarSystem.cpp/.h | Planet data, orbit simulation, scale modes, rendering |
src/Spacecraft.cpp/.h | Orbital mechanics (Kepler + N-Body RK4), SOI transitions, propulsion, attitude |
src/Camera.cpp/.h | Orbit camera with adjustable focus, azimuth, elevation, and distance |
src/Model.cpp/.h | glTF 2.0 model loader (tinygltf) |
src/HorizonsApi.cpp/.h | HTTP client fetching live planet positions from NASA JPL Horizons |
src/Shader.cpp/.h | GLSL shader compilation and uniform setters |
src/Mesh.cpp/.h | SphereMesh, RingMesh, OrbitMesh, SkyboxMesh geometry |
src/Texture.cpp/.h | stb_image texture loader |
shaders/planet.* | Diffuse-lit planet shader |
shaders/sun.* | Emissive sun shader with limb darkening |
shaders/ring.* | Alpha-blended Saturn ring shader |
shaders/orbit.* | Colored line shader for orbit paths and SOI wireframes |
shaders/skybox.* | Equirectangular panorama shader with brightness and rotation uniforms |
shaders/fdai.* | Navball hemisphere shader (blue/orange based on radial direction) |
Render order per frame: skybox → planet orbit paths → Sun → planets + moons → rings → spacecraft → ImGui overlays (navball, frames, labels).
Code: MIT — do whatever you want with it. Textures: check your texture pack's license. Solar System Scope textures are CC-BY 4.0 — credit them if you redistribute.
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