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 OnOrbit
Use the robotic ARM to build the ship that will take humans to Mars. Nimbly climb along the superstructure in Low Earth Orbit, puzzling out the right color-sequences to solve each level.
Requires Flash 8 plugin
Instructions
Control each segment of the arm using the keyboard (N/M for the first segment, Z/X for the second, spacebar to grab and release). Move from handhold to handhold.Catch payloads as they fly by. Drop them into cradles with matching color sequences. Fill all the payload-cradles to advance to the next level.
High Scores
Register on this site and login to have your high-scores tracked
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| Bean027 |
794,000 |
| Bean027 |
755,000 |
| Bean027 |
714,000 |
| Bean027 |
661,000 |
| Bean027 |
624,000 |
| Bean027 |
580,000 |
| NormandCalve |
562,440 |
| Bean027 |
540,000 |
| NormandCalve |
526,400 |
| NormandCalve |
526,260 |
| Slaggie |
514,680 |
| Bean027 |
504,000 |
| NormandCalve |
485,520 |
| NormandCalve |
483,170 |
| Slaggie |
462,680 |
| NetWraith |
460,890 |
| Bean027 |
460,000 |
| NormandCalve |
446,020 |
| KrisMcNic2 |
445,460 |
| NormandCalve |
439,340 |
| NormandCalve |
438,170 |
| Slaggie |
420,680 |
| NormandCalve |
417,810 |
| NetWraith |
414,100 |
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Behind the Scenes
The large, complex vehicles involved in the Mars mission will be launched into space in sections, and assembled in low Earth orbit (LEO) in a sequence of docking maneuvers. In OnOrbit, you are assembling the Terra Nova, the crew transit vehicle that will carry the crew from Earth to Mars.
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Canadian Astronaut Julie Payette trains with the Canadarm2 controls in a simulator (Credit: Canadian Space Agency www.space.gc.ca)
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In this game you’ll maneuver a next generation robotic ARM (Advanced Robotic Manipulator) across the Terra Nova’s network of trusses, grabbing payloads as they float by and installing them in cradles on the ship. The ARM, in part based on the Canadarm2 on the International Space Station, can grapple objects or ship-mounted handholds with either end. It can inchworm its way across a structure, locking itself to a power/data grapple on the ship as an anchor-point, and then reach out to take hold of a new grapple-point with it’s free end. It can then release the first hold and swing around to find another handhold, or pivot to intercept a floating payload. Payloads are linked together in a coloured puzzle-pattern to solve each level. Be prepared to play engineer: gameplay and the puzzles become increasingly difficult as assembly continues.
Actual assembly in Low Earth Orbit would typically involve only a few large segments, rather than OnOrbit’s collection of free-floating coloured payloads. Also, the game ARM is vastly simplified even compared to today’s Canadarm2, which boasts 7 joints that can each rotate 540 degrees. This version of the ARM is not to scale: it’s far smaller compared to the Terra Nova, and easier to manipulate, with many more grapple-points than a real manipulator would have.
Your keyboard control keys are also a substantial simplification over the actual Canadarm controls. But the biggest difference between gameplay and working in orbit is the ability to pick things up, which is even more challenging in space. Without friction to slow things down, you can actually push objects farther away while trying to pick them up. While tricky, this game is still an idealization of the actual difficulty of this operation. We hope it gives you an indication how hard space agency engineers and technicians actually work!
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Find out more:
Mission Plan: Mars Vehicles
Mission Plan: Timeline |
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