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Space Debris Field: Orbital Perturbation (2D)

A real orbital-mechanics engine on plain canvas: each debris point follows a Kepler orbit around Earth, its apsidal line precesses from a J2 oblateness term, and low-perigee objects decay through atmospheric drag until they re-enter — with a live collision-cascade counter for close approaches.

Aerospace Engineering & Orbital Mechanics2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

The 3D original renders debris drifting on fixed circular tracks with no physics driving them. This 2D companion replaces that decoration with real two-body Kepler motion: each object's true anomaly advances from its instantaneous angular momentum, a J2 oblateness term precesses its apsidal line, and — when drag is on — low-perigee debris loses altitude exponentially with atmospheric density until it re-enters.

⚙ Under the hood

Per-object Kepler orbit (semi-major axis, eccentricity, true anomaly) integrated from specific angular momentum; J2 apsidal precession scaled by (Re/p)²; exponential-density drag decay near perigee; an O(n²) proximity pass flags close approaches as cascade collisions that can spawn fragment debris.

orbital mechanicskepler orbitj2 perturbationatmospheric dragspace debriskessler syndrome

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install