Orbiter (simulator)

Orbiter
Screenshot of a Space Shuttle lift-off from Cape Canaveral
Developer(s)	Martin Schweiger
Platform(s)	PC (Microsoft Windows)
Release	Latest stable release 30 August 2016, Orbiter2016
Genre(s)	Simulation
Mode(s)	Single player Multiplayer

Orbiter is a freeware space flight simulator program developed to simulate spaceflight using realistic Newtonian physics. The simulator was first released on 27 November 2000; the latest edition, labeled "Orbiter 2016", was released on 30 August 2016, the first new version of the simulator since 2010.

Orbiter was developed by Dr. Martin Schweiger, a senior research fellow in the computer science department at University College London, who felt that space flight simulators at the time were lacking in realistic physics-based flight models, and decided to write a simulator that made learning physics concepts enjoyable. It has been used as a teaching aid in classrooms, and a community of add-on developers have created a multitude of add-ons to allow users to fly assorted real and fictional spacecraft and add new planets or planetary systems.

Orbiter is a realistic physics simulator which allows users to explore the solar system in a number of spacecraft, both realistic, such as the Space Shuttle Atlantis; and fictional, such as the "Delta-Glider." Schweiger has included fictional spacecraft to allow for easier flights for less experienced users. The simulator is realistic enough to re-enact historical space flights, and the ability to fly fictional ships also allows the player to reach areas of the solar system that cannot be reached by manned spaceflight at the present time.

A spacecraft's engines are defined only by the amount of thrust they put out and amount of fuel they use, allowing anything from solar sails to conventional rocket engines to futuristic nuclear fission and fusion drives to be simulated. Everything between ground movement and interplanetary travel is supported, including orbital and sub-orbital flight, although only vessel-ground collisions are supported. Docking and attachment systems allow the user to simulate docking with a space station or other spacecraft and rendezvous with and retrieval of satellite. Users can also build space stations in orbit.