ESA Science web site launches virtual reality XMM
20 August 1998
When a team believes in its project, then any game is good to get it known ! And when the programme concerned is XMM, Europe's largest-ever science satellite, then even the inter-active fun of virtual reality can be put to good use !Our XMM site today offers visitors the opportunity to discover the European Space Agency's X-ray observatory in virtual reality - with the help of VRML plugins widely available. Proceeding to our special page, all facets are shown of this monster satellite. XMM is eleven metres long and nearly four tonnes in mass. The actual satellite is being assembled by prime contractor DASA Dornier in Germany. If the integration and final tests proceed satisfactorily, launch from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 is scheduled for August 1999.
The virtual reality model of XMM presents a guided tour of the observatory, even allowing access to its entrails. One can visualise X rays hitting its three large concentric mirror modules at one extremity, travelling along the long telescope tube to the other end where all the science instruments and cameras are situated.
The spacecraft, which has presented considerable engineering challenges, is presented in its most animated version to date on the Internet. This virtual reality model has been produced by a programming team at ESTEC, the European Space Agency's technical centre in The Netherlands, where the XMM programme is being managed.
Click on "The XMM VRML model" link on this page see what it is all about.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
