Continuing my series of posts regarding Google Sky and Google Earth, here is a KMZ file that will let you find some of the prominent and interesting space telescopes and satellites on Google Earth. This file includes real-time position tracking and 1 hour flight paths for:
- Swift Gamma Ray Mission (NASA)
- RoSat (NASA, UK, Germany)
- CoRoT (CNES, ESA)
- GalEx (NASA)
- COBE (NASA)
- IRAS (NASA, UK, Netherlands)
- Envisat (ESA)
- Hubble Space Telescope (NASA, ESA)
- International Space Station (Many)
This KMZ file splits down into several separate files so you can chose to select or deselect any and all of the above objects. Clicking on the satellite or telescope’s icon brings up information about that object with links to more information. Screenshots below for those who like that sort of thing.
To see more Google Earth satellite files check out the general Satellites on Google Earth post and the Chinese Space Debris post. As always, suggestions are welcomed in the comments section. For example, I had created a time-slider dependent satellite tracker but it just ended up being really annoying. Would that be something people would want? Also, as mentioned in a previous comment, I am in the process of creating a tracker that uses a Sketchup model instead of an icon. All thoughts welcome, have fun playing with these.
