Ground School
The plain facts the rest of the magazine leans on: the sky, the orbits, the neighborhood.
Pilots learn the sky before they fly in it. That is what this department is for.
The rest of Star Bound argues. It argues about how to build a habitat, where to get the metal, what to feed the worms. Those arguments assume the reader already knows where geosynchronous orbit is, why the Van Allen belts decide where you can live, and how far it really is to the asteroid belt. Most people don’t, and there was nowhere on this site to send them. Now there is.
Nothing in here takes a position. It is the map, laid out plainly and footnoted so a skeptic or a twelve-year-old can check it. The eight pages below are interactive: tap the layers, rings, and planets to read about them, flip between miles and kilometers, and switch each chart to true scale to see how small the part we live in really is. Written pieces will follow, each one wrapped around one of these.
If a number here is wrong, tell us. Ground truth is the whole point.
John LangEditor
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Ground School · interactive
Earth’s atmosphere, layer by layer
Five layers, the Kármán line, and the landmarks in between. Switch to true scale and watch the breathable part shrink to a hairline.
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Ground School · interactive
Where the satellites are
Every ring from the space station to the Moon, with geosynchronous orbit and the Van Allen belts marked. True scale shows how close to home it all is.
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Ground School · interactive
The neighborhood: our solar system
The Sun, eight planets, Pluto, the asteroid belt, and StarmanThe Sun, eight planets, Pluto, and the asteroid belt. Tap a planet, press play, and see the whole thing in true proportion.rsquo;s car on its loop past Mars. Tap a planet, press play, and see the whole thing in true proportion.
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Ground School · interactive
Earth and the Moon, to scale
Drawn with no compression at all. Run a month of the Moon’s orbit, then line the eight planets up in the gap and see if they fit.
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Ground School · interactive
Where the Voyagers are
A ruler from the Sun to the nearest star, with both Voyagers placed for today. And the Golden Record, playing from NASA’s own account.
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Ground School · interactive
The Milky Way, and where we are in it
Our whole galaxy from above. One button lights up the single dot that holds everything else on this site, the way the Desert Museum did it.
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Ground School · interactive
Everything we can see, and where we are in it
One step past the galaxy: the cosmic web of galaxies, and the observable universe. The same button, one more time.
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Ground School · interactive
From the galaxy to the Moon
One continuous dive: the whole Milky Way, then six clicks down through the nearest stars, the Oort cloud, and the planets, until Earth and the Moon fill the frame.
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