I am brand new to the Mac OS and one of the programs I would really like to use is X-Plane. My System Report indicates that it recognizes my joystick as connected to a USB port. I downloaded the X-Plane demo and the settings menu within the simulator software does not recognize the joystick. Even though it's been lost for almost 50 years, Karen Autenrieth's wedding band has remained a symbol of eternal love - and she's about to get it back. Autenrieth, of San Antonio, Texas.
Last year I began fiddling around with a program called A-OK! The Wings of Mercury, a computer program written by Joe Nastasi that completely simulates a Mercury space mission from the 1960s. Nastasi realized that today's computers are sufficiently advanced that they can replicate not only the interior of a Mercury capsule and simulate its flight in video-game quality detail, they can also simulate the entire Mission Control Center.
A restricted-feature version is available for download. Paying the registration fee gets you a code to enable the missing features, which include networking a room full of Macs together as a mission control center.
Installation is straightforward. The program runs on both OS 9 and OS X. System requirements are fairly moderate – you need a G3 (333 MHz for OS 9, 600 MHz for OS X, OS X 10.7 and newer not supported) and you must have a video card that handles QuickTime RAVE (OS 9) or OpenGL (OS X).
I've run the program on both OSes, and it works identically. A faster processor helps, but it ran reasonably well on a 300 MHz Beige Power Mac G3 tower – well enough for me to use it as my primary machine for the simulation at school. Even though it was a bit under the recommended requirements on the website, it ran well.
On a 1 GHz TiBook it was extremely smooth in animation, although there was a small problem with the 3D rendering leaving an artifact above the rocket in flight when your point of view was below the plane of the rocket (from underneath, the screen shows a vertical bar above the rocket).
Aside from that, the program runs great, the documentation is excellent (although I have some suggestions noted below), and the simulation is fun. If you have the slightest interest in the history of space flight, simulation, applied physics, or rocketry, you will love this program. Try it out, pay for it, use it. We purchased the site license from some grant funds we used to develop curriculum for our space academy courses.
The program essentially recreates the interior of a Mercury space capsule, down to the last switch. Just to give you a comparison, here is a screen shot of the primary control panel.
For comparison, here is a screen shot of a Mercury capsule mockup exhibited at the Chabot Space center in Oakland, California this month:
Can you spot the missing indicator instrument? My students have to describe the differences between these two pictures as part of an assignment.
The question that remains for me as an educator is what do you do with this software? Do you just turn kids loose on it or do something organized?
If you run the simulator as is, there's not a lot for students sitting at the Mission Control Center consoles to do. That's not a flaw in the program; it's just the nature of working at Mission Control.
Your job at Mission Control in this simulation, if you were to do the job right, would be to call for holds as necessary before launch; abort if conditions warrant; report on values of such things as fuel supply and blood pressure according to your schedule or if asked.
Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, solves this problem by carefully scripting a launch. When you attend Space Camp (and they have versions for teachers, adults, and whole families) you get a binder with step-by-step instructions and words to read for each person. There's not much decision-making involved, but then you only get a couple of days to prepare for the simulated mission.
A-OK could benefit from a scripted manual for beginners that not only tells what buttons to push but what to say along the way.
Here is what my classes did this year, because I did not have time to write such a scripted manual.
First, I ran the simulator in automatic mode for a sub-orbital flight. As the program displayed on my projector screen, I talked students through the terms on a vocabulary puzzle I provided for them. They learned BECO (Booster Engine Cut Off), the name of the first American in space (Alan Shepherd), and the name of the base of the capsule (the heat shield).
After that, I gave them a packet that asked them to fill in the steps of a launch according to the timeline provided in the program's help files, estimate the model rocket engine code that a Mercury Redstone would be rated, and guess what stations are which in a photograph of Mercury Mission Control based on the Mission Control Center simulator.
While most of the class worked on the packets, I had volunteers attempt to run through the simulation manually. That worked well, although there were a few buttons and switches that we couldn't find or were not labeled as they appeared in the checklist (oddly enough, we could not find the Abort Handle in step one), and twice students pulled out the oxygen snorkel while trying to see if it was in the proper position during a countdown – and then discovered it wouldn't go back in.
Eventually I changed the setup to give a little more realism by connecting an old joystick to the computer for maneuvering thruster control (which worked once I got the settings figured out for my stick – they were conflicting with the mouse when the Finder was running).
I installed two extra video cards in the PCI slots of the Beige G3 and ran three monitors – one for the astronaut, one with the clock (for me), and one with the external view and view through the window (for the class). Performance took a hit, but not so much that we couldn't enjoy the simulation. And this was on a machine below the minimum system requirements. Pretty impressive for a REALbasic application.
I learned enough this year that we may take things a step further next year and hold astronaut applications and plan a mission from start to finish (I'll supply the freeze-dried astronaut ice cream for the in-flight snack).
We could have done a little more with it if I had started earlier. There's a lot of physics and math buried in here – projectile motion, Newton's Laws, orbital mechanics, ellipses, speed-distance-time problems, logistics, nutrition, and more.
Overall, I think this is a great package and plan to use it in the future. Even though it didn't quite capture the attention of that girl in the back who just talks constantly and does makeup when she's not talking, everyone else enjoyed it (especially when we crashed).
Keywords: #spaceflight #spaceflightsimulator #simulation #mercury #maclabreport
Short link: http://goo.gl/UJwLXf
searchword: spaceflight
Ring of Elysium
Ring of Elysium is a Free-to-play (F2P), Battle Royale, and Online Multiplayer video game with shooting elements developed and published by Tencent Games for Microsoft Windows. The game puts the player in the role of the protagonist, who is trapped in the snowy mountain assaulted by a disastrous snowstorm, and an only way out is a save flight which can rescue up to four people. Now, survivors must struggle to stay ahead of the approaching storm while removing competitors. In the game, the map is split into predefined regions, and the player starts the game by choosing his character from available and jump into the world to show off his survival skills. The player explores the world from a first-person perspective, use a massive arsenal of weaponry in order to eliminate other players while struggling to reach the flight before anyone to complete the task. Ring of Elysium includes prominent features such as Regional Transformation, Rescue Helicopter, Convincing Natural Disaster, different Player Abilities, and more. Check it out, if you love playing these games.
#1 Fortnite Battle Royale
Fortnite: Battle Royale is a Free-to-play (F2P) video game with Battle Royale and Multiplayer elements by Epic Games. It serves as a spin-off of Fortnite: Save the World, a co-op Survival game comes with construction aspects. Similar to other battle royale games, it introduces up to 100 players from across the world (alone, in teams, or duos) struggling to be the last standing player or a team alive by slaying other players or evading them. While staying safe within a shrinking zone to avoid taking lethal damage. Players start the game with no advantages and weapons and must scavenge buildings and other structures for weapons, armor, and gears to gain the upper hand on the opponents. The game features a construction element, enabling players to break down most objects to obtain resources they can use to create fortifications. The fixed layouts of the island offer several locations and landmarks that are mostly ghost towns, while a procedural distribution of shields, weapons, and other support can be discovered by searching popular sites and buildings. Like other Battle Royale games, the task of the player or a team is to be alive by removing or preventing other players. Over time, the game's safe zone decreases in size, and players who remain outside the area will receive damage. Fortnite: Battle Royale is the best as compared to other Battle Royale games.
#2 Infestation: The New Z
Infestation: The New Z is an Action-Adventure, Massively Multiplayer Online, Open World and Role-playing video game with Horror-Survival and Battle Royale elements developed by Fredaikis AB. The game offers a huge environment and features a dynamic player versus player experience in multiple modes and environments. There are different playable characters available and the player has to select one of them to customize and jump into the competitive world where he has to battle against enemies to crush them and remain the last survival. In the game, the player can explore the world from a first-person view with friends, scavenge for loot and battle players to win. The player navigates the environment either on foot or by vehicle, bus, and other convince to kill zombies and communicate other players. A unique Battle Royale mode also available in the game for unique experience, where the ultimate task of the player is to be the last standing man by finding items, random airdrops, and killing other players. Infestation: The New Z includes prominent features such as Survival, Customization, Play with Friends, Discover lots of Armors, Weapons and Melees, PvP Mode, and more. Try it out, and you'll enjoy it.
#3 Ark: Survival of the Fittest
Ark: Survival of the Fittest (also known as Ark: Sotf) is a F2P, Open World, First-person Shooter, Survival, and Multiplayer video game with Battle Royale twist developed and published by Studio Wildcard. The game combines the MMORPG, and Survival Arena elements and serves as the spin-off of the Ark: Survival Evolved game. The game features up to seventy-two combatants in the fast-paced and action-packed gameplay where the players are pushed into the massive showdown with a task to come out alive by killing all opponents. The player assumes the role of the survivors and the survivor and team up with up to six-person tribes with the choice to select official and unofficial servers. The player starts the game with a forest environment where he must survive by collecting items, crafting weapons, and battling enemies. More than thirty creatures are available in the game, and the game introduces multiple modes such as 1 vs.1, 2 vs.2, 4 vs.4, and 6 vs. 6. Evolution Events, Robust Ranking, Multiple Modes, 30 Creatures, Survival Gameplay, and more. Try it out, and you'll love it.
#4 Fortnite
Fortnite offers the superb blend of Third-person Perspective, Battle Royale, Survival, and Sandbox elements and supports Co-op, Single-player, and Online Multiplayer modes developed and published by Epic Games for multiple platforms. The game is about exploration, scavenging items, crafting weapons, building different structures, and fighting against hordes of enemies and zombie-like creatures. There are different characters from which the player can select his favorite one to start his adventure. In Fortnite game, players need to work together to scavenge items that they can use to defend and build structures and complete a variety of objectives to progress through the game.
During the gameplay, the player can edit each wall of the structure with a 3×3 grid, roofs, lay downstairs, and more. The game contains two different modes, one of which is Fortnite: Save the World, offering a co-op shooter-survival gameplay for up to four players to battle against zombies and defend objects using fortification players can build. The second mode of the game is Fortnite Battle Royale mode which comes with free-to-play Battle Royale gameplay where up to 100 players parachute on an island to battle against each other to be the last person standing. There are four different character classes such as soldier, ninja, constructor, and Outlander each class has its unique abilities and personality.
Explore the world from a third-person view, interact with non-player characters, progress through the game by completing objectives, and survive as long as possible to become the master. Fortnite offers core features such as Open World, Forest Environment, lots of Challenging Levels, and more.
#5 Hurtworld
Hurtworld is an Open World, Survival, First-person and Third-person Perspective video game developed and published by Bankroll Studios for multiple platforms. It offers the challenging survival gameplay with a focus on survival progression. The game takes the player in the huge world full of rival players, resources, weapons and equipment. In the start, the player needs to select his playable character from available and customize it using various options like clothes, body, weapons and more. The player can explore the world from either a first-person perspective or a third-person viewpoint with a task to survive as long as possible. The player will encounter dangerous animals in the world and must survival to avoid to prevent death. Using the crafting system, the player can develop weapons, tools, and machines, and can combine multiple resources that the player found in the world to make hundreds of different items. Hurtworld includes prominent features such as Structure Building, Crafting Gear, Mining Resources, Twitch Based PvP, Farmable Plants, Dynamic Weather, and more. Hurtworld is the wonderful game for those who love playing Multiplayer Hardcore FPS games.
#6 Rust
Ring Flight Mac Os X
Rust is a Multiplayer Action-Adventure and Horror-Survival video game by Facepunch Studios. Currently, in the Alpha phase, Rust offers early access to the game on Steam. Set in a massive Open World, Rust allows you to survive in an unfriendly environment by simply crafting different items, exploration and by finding the supplies such as Food, Water, Shelter, loot, Weapons and medical Supplies, etc. It spawns you right in the middle of other online players and lets you use your wit to find ways in which you can survive. You must stay well fed to avoid starvation and drink plenty of water in order to eliminate the threat of being dehydrated. Encounters with the creatures will definitely result in your demise of win so you decide what to do. All the deadly creatures, harsh weather conditions, and all the obstacles must not defeat you if you want to survive. Rust with all the wonderful mechanics, visuals and immersive game-play is a fantastic game to play and enjoy.
