To some people, buying a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator and buzzing around in simulated controlled airspace just isn’t enough. For these armchair explorers, there’s a number of nifty spaceflight simulators out there.

From England comes ORBITER, a free spaceflight simulator that goes beyond the confines of Earth’s atmosphere. “Launch the Space Shuttle from Kennedy Space Center to deploy a satellite, rendezvous with the International Space Station or build your own custom station in orbit, or take the futuristic Delta-glider for a tour through the solar system – the choice is yours.” But make no mistake – ORBITER is not a space shooter game or toy. There are no missions to be completed or empires to be built. You fly a spacecraft through the solar system and that’s it. The emphasis is firmly on realism, and the learning curve can be steep. Planetary motion, gravitation effects, free space and atmospheric flight are accurately modelled. Be prepared to invest some time and effort to brush up on your orbital mechanics background. A good starting point for THAT is JPL’s Space Flight Learners’ Workbook.

Once you succeed in getting to cyber-Mars, you might want to switch over to the astoundingly detailed aerodynamics simulator X-Plane and go for a realistic flight in Mars’ thin atmosphere. Dedicated users of X-Plane have developed many remarkable Marscraft to fly based on the actual low gravity-thin atmosphere conditions of Mars – a a fixed wing powered glider, an airship, a helicopter, and a strap-on rocket backpack. There’s even a CD of data based on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor laser altimeter data, so not only the atmosphereic physics is correct – so is the scenery you see out the window. Only the crashes aren’t real.