Vintage finds have become hip for rocket scientists, too. The ISEE-3 spacecraft, which NASA launched in 1978 to study the Earth’s magnetic field, was recently repurposed by a ragtag group of citizen scientists working out of a McDonald’s—lovingly renamed McMoon. “It’s like dumpster diving for science,” gushes Keith Cowing, co-lead of the ISEE-3 Reboot Project. The first space mission handled by private scientists outside of NASA, the crowd-funded project aimed to make space science more accessible for citizens and to share data with the public. In keeping with that mission, A Spacecraft for All’s web experience makes space fascinating and digestible, even for the science-averse. Innovative WebGL code makes 3-D graphics load easily on compatible browsers without requiring users to download new plug-ins. The simple graphics reveal the solar system and ISEE-3’s orbit, and they err on the side of stylishness rather than photo-realistic accuracy. Viewers can interact with the animated graphics as they watch a short documentary that explains the unlikely history of ISEE-3. At the end, users are prompted to take part in the unfolding of the spacecraft’s journey as they watch an artist rendering of the satellite’s current location.
Studio PDA and SouthSouthWest redesigned Australia’s most popular design blog.