SatScape by Scott Hathor	Home Page	An EXCELLENT program to help you pass the time with those clear, moonless nights, SatScape shows you where to find those satellites, space shuttles, and even the space station in the sky!!!
	download HERE!

SatScape by Scott Hathor (Engine by David Taylor and Dr. Kelso) After a nice picnic near the river, you and your companion settle down to relax, laying on the bank together. Looking up into the clear sky as the sun slowly sets behind you, you suddenly notice, after all of the conversation, it's gotten quite dark. As you both relax, your eye catches a glimmering point of light moving among the stars! Ahhhh.... a jet!" you blurt. "Maybe a 757!" "No" your companion says, "That's probably the space shuttle". You refuse to believe that the light you're observing is anything but a jet and you spend the rest of the evening discussing the issue together with reckless abandon!! Well, after the dust settles, give SatScape a try and find out what that little pinpoint of light moving so smoothly across the sky actually might be!!! SatScape shows you the positioning of the major satellites, shuttles, and the space station at any given time, for your location or any location that you may want to enter. Using SatScape, you'll be able to know almost EXACTLY when the space shuttle will be observable outside in your location, as well as many other pieces of technology that float about. Think about it!! What a hit you'd be at the evening barbecue as you nonchalantly glance skyward and mention in passing "Gee..... there goes the space station!! Can I have another beer!?". Platform........ Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, NT and XP! DirectX 8.1 is needed for the 3D program. Web Site.......... The SatScape site is LOADED with lots of stuff for the SatScape program plus many items that you may find interesting dealing with space. There's connections to NASA, star gazers info plus much, much more. The site has a white background with an easy to read font. There seems to be a couple of small mistakes on their site, mainly dealing with pics. The basics of the site are good though and it is rather easy to navagate throughout the site. Just take your time and look around. There's much to see. Downloading........ There are quite a few choices when it comes to downloading this program. You can download the program with 2D or 3D graphics. You have an option to install speech for your program plus there are a number of different map backgrounds that you can chose from and download. Here's the approximate totals for the downloads: 2D SatScape: 4.1 megs 3D SatScape: 5.1 megs Voice Engine: 800k Assorted Voices: 7 megs Plus you will need DirectX 8.1 (not 8.0) to run the 3D version (this has to be the fastest download on the net!). Though there are many choices, the downloads initiate quickly and are immediate. Installation.......... The program file is a .zip so just find a useful directory to open it to and click the install file. The standard install engine starts and in no time, you're ready. The other files for speech and maps are also zips and should be opened up into the SatScape directory to allow the program to use them. Help Files.......... SatScapes help system is actually found on the net, so if someone is using this program without an internet connection, they may get lost! It would be nice if a complete help file was installed with the program but considering the actual contents of SatScape and all that it does, I suppose it would make the download that much bigger. The online help system comes with "Viewlet Windows" (not working at the time I visited), F.A.Q.'s area, and e-mail links for questions and comments. Lots of info here to help you get it up and running! Interface............. There's lots to see, so get ready!!! When you start SatScape, you are given a window which introduces the program itself. From here, you are able to access most of the program functions. It's quite detailed and also quite "visual", but considering the fun you can have with this information, it deserves to be so!! Here's a pic of the opening window: Before you begin playing with SatScape, I suggest that you click on the first menu item in the opening window titled "file" and click on "main settings". From here you will be entering the information that is specific for your location and preferences. For instance, you location is entered here which will allow you to actually view where in the sky the objects are for your area. You will also adjust your time zone here along with many other features that come with SatScape. Here's a pic of the "main settings" window (size has been decreased to fit): After adjusting your settings, you can pick which particular satellites are going to show in the main program. There's an excellent variety of types to choose from, and an impressive amount of choices from each variety. Here's a pic showing you just one group of "floating bodies" that you'll find here: Next, you can choose from a nice list of major cities from around the world to show on your display (besides you location). Now, checking out the "graphical views" menu will get you to the heart of the program. You have a choice of "world view" as well as other picks more specific to the world map, which have been broken down into "Regions". Here's a view of the world map. Notice that it shows shading for the nighttime/daytime views as well as the paths which your selected satellite follows: If your computer will support the processing power necessary, SatScape comes with a 3D mode which shows a three dimensional view of the earth with the satellites rotating around it. It's nice, but I prefer the 2D mode for myself. Here's a pic of the 3D mode: Features ........... SatScape runs extremely well if you have the processing power to make it work with all of the features. If you impliment the use of Microsofts Voice module, SatScape will chat with you, letting you know which satellites are observable in your area, when they will be out of range, and how long you'll have to wait until the objects come within your range. Personally, I am not fussy with the voices that Microsoft uses, but it's a great feature none the less! The opening window launches the program, giving you many choices to select from. Picking "pass predictions" from the "Textual Data" menu item opens up a window which will allow you to select certain satellites and find out when they will be passing by. Here's a pic of that window: From the same menu item you can get the "Iridium Flares" (requires internet connection) and the satellite data in tabular form. The real "meat" of SatScape is the 3D and 2D map view of the world! On the right hand side, there are information panes showing the location details of the highlighted satellite, the positioning of the sun and moon in real time, and the bottom pane shows even MORE details of the satellite such as it's beacon, uplink, and download linking frequencies and, in the case of the International Space Station, it's voice frequencies too!! With one click of the border, you can get rid of the info windows and make the world map full screen. From the "Controls" menu item, you can select a more concentrated area of the world to examine. My area is the "Northwest Region" and gives me a map of North America! Here's a pic with the Space Station going by: If you get tired of the map view, you can click on the "Horizon View" in the "Controls" menu. This shows a nicely landscaped pictures of the complete 360 degree horizon in a flat map. The top shows your directional locations and placed in the view are the approximate location of all objects within your view. Here's a pic with the space station location in my area: Another great feature is the printouts that can be produced with all of the data that is presented. They are clear, concise, and contain a great deal of information. There are many more features that come with SatScape and you'll just have to install it get a feel for everything that is available. Problems......... I've had a bit of difficulty running the program in 3D mode due to my hardware, but the 2D works excellent!! I've also seem to find that shutting down the voice is a bit slow but again, it could be a hardware/memory issue. Other than that, it is one FANTASTIC educational program. A reminder: Don't forget that this program need DirectX 8.1 loaded to be able to show the 3D view of this program. If you don't want the it, download the 2D version! Closing......... SatScape is one of the better educational programs that I've seen and will be on my computer for quite some time. You can't beat it presentation and it's dedication to detail. Do you have a pair of binoculars? Great! The next time you go to the river bank for a great late evening picnic with your friend, bring them along with a printout of the most popular passing satellites. When your partner mentions a passing point of light, check it out on the list, gaze through the binoculars, and solve it once and for all. Then, you concentrate on some of the more important parts of spending time together!! Enjoy Buzzy J

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