⛵ Solar Sail Orbit Simulator — 3D
A genuine WebGL/Three.js companion to the 2D Solar Sail Orbit Simulator: the exact photon-pressure thrust model — thrust ∝ area × reflectivity × cos²(angle) — now drives a spacecraft on a true 3D orbit that can be tilted to any inclination, with a real tilted sail catching starlight and a growing 3D trail tracing the orbit as it raises or lowers.
The same photon-pressure model, now in a real 3D orbit
The 2D original tracks a solar sail on a flat elliptical path, computing each frame's radiation-pressure thrust as area × reflectivity/100 × 0.00118 × cos²(angle), then nudging the orbital radius by sin(angle) × thrust × 0.00009 per unit time and advancing the orbital angle with a Kepler-like rate of 0.33 / radius1.5. This companion reuses that exact arithmetic unchanged — nothing about the underlying physics was altered — and lifts the geometry into true 3D: the orbit plane can be tilted to any inclination from 0° to 45°, the spacecraft banks and turns to keep its sail always angled toward the star exactly as the 2D Sail angle slider specifies, and the growing trail line traces a real three-dimensional path rather than a flat ellipse.
Toggling the sail hides the reflective panel and switches the craft to drift under gravity alone, exactly like the 2D toggle; the Sail area and Reflectivity sliders feed straight into the same thrust formula, visibly changing both the light-pressure arrows radiating from the star and the rate the orbit ring grows or shrinks; and the new Orbit inclination control — which has no 2D equivalent, since a flat canvas cannot show a tilted orbit — demonstrates that the thrust model works identically regardless of the plane's orientation in space.