Artemis II has returned safely to the Earth after bringing human beings on their first journey to the Moon in over 50 years. The world watched with joy, hope, and inspiration as four astronauts, sent back stunning photos, videos, and sincere heartfelt messages as they became the humans who have ventured farthest from the Earth. The free OpenSpace open-source software tool, funded by NASA, provides a powerful resource for professionals (like planetarium educators) or the general public to explore the mission.
With the mission complete, we have access to the as-flown data from Artemis II’s trip around the Moon. For the benefit of the OpenSpace user community, Tau Immersive is making a package of Artemis II assets available for simple presentations on the mission and inclusion in other programs. With this profile you can explain the overview of the mission’s activities (and access the existing Artemis I features built into OpenSpace), as well as revisit highlights of the mission.
This asset package contains a profile, mission assets, and an OpenSpace ShowComposer panel page to give you quick and easy access to the significant moments of the mission.
Hello, World from Artemis II by Reid Wiseman, NASA
The Artmis II crew sent back inspiring photos from their mission to the Moon. With accurate trajectory data in OpenSpace we have the incredible opportunity to revisit these moments in OpenSpace and share the crew’s experience. Reid Wiseman’s incredible Hello, World photo was taken just after Artemis II fired its rockets for trans-lunar injection–the trajector to take it to the Moon. This photo was actually taken over the night side of the Earth with a wide open camera aperture. Look over the continents and you can see the glow of city lights in Europe and Africa and the glimmer of the setting Sun. Just hit the buttons to set up this scene in OpenSpace.
By default, OpenSpace won’t have as much exposure as Reid’s camera. But you can adjust some of the image layer settings to see the continents and cloud pattern as you did last night. In future builds of OpenSpace the multiple function may make it easier to recreate this view.
Let’s follow the mission further into space. One of the most moving images from the mission was the Earthset photo as the crescent Earth dipped behind the Moon and the astronauts sent their well-wishes to all of us back home as they entered radio silence, hidden behind the Moon.
This image harkened back to the famous Earthrise photo captured by Apollo 8 on December 24, 1968 as they rounded the Moon, which inspired astronaut and photographer Bill Anders to describe Earth as a “fragile Christmas tree ornament” in Space. We can revisit this scene in OpenSpace too.
OpenSpace gives you the power to explore this mission in simulation and taking our audiences as close as possible to the experience these astronauts had circling the Moon and looking back at our Earth to reflect on its delicate beauty. Beyond these examples you can follow Artemis behind the Moon as the astronauts experienced the Earth rising again, and then an extended Solar Eclipse as they passed behind the Moon. Shift your focus to the Moon to explore the terrain the saw in detail with high resolution imagery data from robotic lunar orbiters.
The OpenSpace bundle also contains a 360 video of Artemis II on its Space Launch System rocket stack as it was on the rollout to launch, carried by NASA’s amazing Crawler-Transporter. This video was captured our friend and Astronomy Picture of the Day featured photographer, Derek Demeter of the Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust Planetarium at Seminole State College. This video should play back on most systems, but let us know if you need help, and be sure to credit Derek if you use it!
With OpenSpace the power to explore the universe and join in historic missions like Artemis II is at your fingertips.
Thank you to the Artemis II astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen for inspiring us with their brave journey around the Moon, and all of our friends in the engineering and mission control teams who made this mission possible.
