ORBITER Space Flight Simulator

Orbiter Documentation and Tutorials

If you want to see what Orbiter is about before downloading the installation packages, have a look at the Orbiter Manual. After installing Orbiter, the Manual can also be found in the Orbiter\Doc subdirectory.

Orbiter User Manual Language Location Download size
Orbiter.pdf English Europe 4 094 007 bytes
Orbiter.pdf English USA 4 094 007 bytes
manuelorbiter.php Francais Europe Link to zip archive
kulch.spb.ru Russian Russia Link to Russian translation of Orbiter documentation
Manuale Orbiter Italiano USA Link to Italian translation of Orbiter documentation on orbithangar.com

"Go Play In Space" (second edition, subtitled "Fun with Martin Schweiger's Orbiter Space Flight Simulator") by Bruce Irving with Andy McSorley is an introductory tutorial and exploration guide for Orbiter 2006. This free PDF ebook is aimed to be relatively non-technical and suitable for ages 12 and up. It covers the basics as well as flying to the Moon and Mars and docking with the International Space Station.

Go Play In Space Language Location Download size
MiGMan's Orbiter Pages English USA 9112 KB
Virtual Spaceflight English Europe 9112 KB

The change history can be found in Doc\Change.pdf or online here.

Some of the common questions and problems are discussed in the FAQ.

Orbiter references

Irving B, McSorley A, Paton M, Bonin G, Virtual prototyping of human Mars missions with the Orbiter space flight simulator, Mars Society Conference 2006, Washington, DC, August 5, 2006. Full text: PDF [0.3MB]. Presentation: PDF [0.8MB].

Irving B, Playing in Space: Interactive Education with the Orbiter Space Flight Simulator, International Space Development Conference (ISDC) 2007, Dallas. Presentation: PDF [3.5MB], Handouts: PDF [1.1MB].

Paton, M, Landing humans on Mars: Virtual prototyping of a piloted Mars Lander, International Space Development Conference (ISDC) 2007, Dallas. Presentation: PDF [2.1MB].

Schweiger M, Orbiter: A free spacecraft simulation tool, 2nd ESA Workshop on Astrodynamics Tools and Techniques, ESTEC, Noordwijk, 13-15 September 2004. Presentation: PDF [1.5MB], PowerPoint [2.1MB].

Schweiger M, Spacecraft simulation and visualisation with Orbiter 2006, 3rd International Workshop on Astrodynamics Tools and Techniques, ESTEC, Noordwijk, 2-5 October 2006. Presentation: PDF [2.5MB], PowerPoint [12MB].

If you have published a paper or given a presentation related to Orbiter, and would like a reference listed here (either with or without a link to the document), please contact me.