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Vintage finds have become hip for rocket scientists, too. The ISEE-3 spacecraft, which NASA launched in 1978 to study the Earth’s magnetic field, was recently repurposed by a ragtag group of citizen scientists working out of a McDonald’s—lovingly renamed McMoon. “It’s like dumpster diving for science,” gushes Keith Cowing, co-lead of the ISEE-3 Reboot Project. The first space mission handled by private scientists outside of NASA, the crowd-funded project aimed to make space science more accessible for citizens and to share data with the public. In keeping with that mission, A Spacecraft for All’s web experience makes space fascinating and digestible, even for the science-averse. Innovative WebGL code makes 3-D graphics load easily on compatible browsers without requiring users to download new plug-ins. The simple graphics reveal the solar system and ISEE-3’s orbit, and they err on the side of stylishness rather than photo-realistic accuracy. Viewers can interact with the animated graphics as they watch a short documentary that explains the unlikely history of ISEE-3. At the end, users are prompted to take part in the unfolding of the spacecraft’s journey as they watch an artist rendering of the satellite’s current location.
spacecraftforall.com

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