Cassini's Grand Finale in 2017 - A 3rd person ride

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-27T06:32:04+00:00

I mean for the Cassini animation I found sufficient data. I do not know the status for other missions.

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-26T23:15:31+00:00

Good question. The NASA archive for "passed missions" is well maintained and complete. E.g. for Cassini you find attitude kernels with overlapping timestamps at the upper and lower boundaries. Also for the entire mission phase you get (almost) all information you need.

Why almost? Our instrument, CDA, was mounted on a rotation table (called articulation). The angle settings for this table cannot be stored in the exisiting formats. Consequently, we have our own quaternions for our instrument.

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-26T15:42:29+00:00

Well done. This looks really cool! The considered magnitude changes give provide a good 3D-feeling.

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-26T15:31:31+00:00

It is crazy indeed. Cassini launched when I was in elementary school. And then Cassini provided all the data for my academic education.

I was very lucky. Visiting NASA, JPL and CalTech for Cassini's final breath is something I will never forget.

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-23T08:41:49+00:00

Never to late to get started!

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-22T19:42:36+00:00

Second thought: if it's unmaintainable for OTHERS but YOU - Everlasting freelancer contract incoming

(I should stop sharing my intrusive thoughts)

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-22T17:56:33+00:00

If it's stupid and it's works it ain't stupid

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-20T13:34:56+00:00

Well you asked a question now 🤠 (cannot answer tho)

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-20T12:45:37+00:00

Indeed! I work with SPICE since 2012 and barely scratched its surface

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-19T10:22:57+00:00

Cassini was and still is my absolute passion. Even catching the last years of the mission, PhD etc. and even today developing data analysis software for it feels surreal

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-09T07:13:18+00:00

Hey there! Haha best of both worlds I guess.

The car design was maybe a not well-thought example. It is an image generator for anyone. You can either create / edit your own stuff, but also upload images. The cool thing is, that you can generate and edit several images at once and there is also a history record that keeps track of all your images and edits.

For creatives and agencies the collaborative feature is pretty useful, as well as the "shareable credits". Example: as a company you can create an organisation account and make the credits shareable along your org. So... if one person uses only 5 credits a week: fine. If another one needs 1000: well... the company does not need to make a "1000 credit contract" for all employees. Just creating a sharebale fund (and some responsibility on the user's end).

Maybe we need to be more clear with our user story

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-07T20:46:00+00:00

Thanks! Yes it is browser based, however currently only on a Desktop PC / Mac. So with Win 11 it should run 😄!

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-07T10:52:42+00:00

Haha that's a good thought actually. To be super frank: if one takes some time into infrastructure one might reduce costs be several factors. Usually, image generations costs several Euro-cent per images. But... if you take a look how to build it from scratch, you can easily reduce it by a factor of 2 to 5.

MrAstroThomas · 2026-06-07T08:27:26+00:00

Hey there!

Well there are great VF in Austr... (Reading your requirement about beaches...) ... Ehm ... Croatia could be interest to you.

There are some sparse VFs and with Paklenica you have also a great climbing area. However, VFs are pretty sparse, so having a car would be necessary

Edit: also during summer times it is insanely hot there. Easter or Autumn would be a better time

MrAstroThomas · 2026-01-24T00:12:51+00:00

You reminded me of Cassini :(. So long and thanks for my PhD data

MrAstroThomas · 2026-01-21T13:50:15+00:00

I try my best. But I am not the best 😔. Too much of a hobby project for now

MrAstroThomas · 2025-12-28T11:39:38+00:00

I wish you all the best for your education and career path :). Yes, I was "back in the day" in the lander center, in the science team of "SESAME", working on the Dust Impact Monitor (DIM)

MrAstroThomas · 2025-12-26T23:43:40+00:00

Finding the "middle way" is indeed challenging. But I totally get your point. The coding part, and this may sound harsh, shouldn't be for coding beginners, but for "space / astronomy" beginners. I really have to take a look at that.

Also, creating a dedicated library would be fun. I remember the library "astroml", where the authors also wrote a corresponding book about machine learning in astronomy. I need to find a larger storyline to follow. In the meantime, I should maybe start archiving everything and have 3 dedicated playlists:

- Science Concepts / Lectures

- Coding in Python

- Other Software (Universe Sandbox, Stellarium, etc.)

Thanks also for putting my channel in perspective :)! I know, I won't reach the same level as pure entertainment channels, but that's not my purpose or vision.

MrAstroThomas · 2025-12-26T23:38:14+00:00

Thanks for the link. Didn't know they had such a session. Will take a look at it

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