14 / 25·WebGL & 3D
ORBITAL
Satellite tracking. A live catalogue with its own sky.
About the work
A tracking-station site where the satellite table and the 3D sky are one instrument: hovering a catalogue row lights that satellite's orbit around a graticule Earth, and every orbit is integrated live with correct inclination and node.
How it was made
The table-to-orbit link is the site's thesis and got the most iteration: hover latency, orbit highlight falloff, and keeping unselected orbits present but quiet. A planned atmosphere mesh was cut when it added nothing but noise.
Like every work in the exhibition, it passed three full iteration passes — a visual critique, a deepening pass, and a QA pass at 390px with reduced motion and zero console errors — and documents itself in its own build guide.
Key features
- Orbits simulated with real inclination and ascending node
- Kepler-scaled speeds — low orbits visibly outrun high ones
- Catalogue rows and orbits linked bidirectionally on hover
- Graticule Earth that keeps the scene readable, not literal
Technology
- three.js
- Orbital mechanics
- Instanced lines
In its own light
