Live: http://xtotam.com SOLAR is a non-commercial side project: an interactive 3D solar system in the browser where you fly between planets, and their positions are computed from real JPL orbital elements instead of a pre-baked animation. Stack: React + Three.js + TypeScript, written mostly in pair with Claude Code.
Planet positions come from JPL's table of orbital elements and rates (valid for 1800–2050). Kepler's equation is solved with Newton's method right on the client, so any date in that range gives a real position, not an interpolated frame. The math is covered by tests on all 8 orbits: at the edges of the validity interval, at perihelion/aphelion, against the J2000 reference position of Earth, and for retrograde periods.
There are deliberate simplifications, documented openly: UTC is used as an approximation of TDB without the seconds-level correction, Earth's orbit represents the Earth–Moon barycenter, there is no full N-body integration, and moons are not modeled.
The visual mode compresses distances non-linearly (so the inner planets don't collapse into each other) and lets a slider set the upper bound of time acceleration — the actual rate ramps up smoothly and brakes before arrival. Accumulated simulation time is shown separately from flight duration. There is no manual piloting and no crashes: it's a cinematic tour, not a flight sim.
The top-down ecliptic map is a separate mode built mobile-first: on a phone it's a full-screen sheet, the sidebar only appears from 761px up. Tapping a body on the map immediately plots a route. Two distance scales: compressed (power-law) and true. It also shows the asteroid belt (2.1–3.3 AU), the Kuiper belt (30–50 AU) and a marker for your ship.
React, Three.js, TypeScript, Vite. Accounts and autosave: Node API + PostgreSQL. Self-hosted deployment: Docker + Caddy. Planet textures by Solar System Scope (CC BY 4.0).
Happy to answer questions about the orbital math or else.