ISS Mimic - We made a 3D printed model of the ISS with moving parts! @issmimic

ISS Mimic We need your help! Whether you are a maker, programmer, educator, space enthusiast, astronaut, or anyone else, we'd like your feedback! We are always looking for ways to lower the project cost and improve the software. Please visit our github github.com/ISS-Mimic/Mimic and join our discord: discord.gg/34ftfJe

ISS Mimic is a 3D-printed, open-source model of the International Space Station that uses live data from the ISS to dynamically match the rotation of the moving joints on the ISS. Our goal is to provide an interactive and informative project for educators and space enthusiasts all over the world.

The ISS outboard truss is constantly rotating, the inboard radiators are moving to position themselves for optimal heat rejection, and the solar arrays are turning to match the sun. The ISS consists of many moving parts but every ISS model in the world is fixed, non-moving, and fails to show just how much activity occurs on the ISS every day. All of this information and more is streamed live from the ISS constantly as "telemetry" (viewable here: iss-mimic.github.io/Mimic)

Mimic uses a Raspberry Pi to receive the telemetry from the ISS, display the ISS data in informative ways, and transmit commands to the microcontrollers which drive the truss, solar arrays, and radiators. The Raspberry Pi software is available to download as a pre-configured image and can be used on it's own to view the current status of the ISS.

The ISS is far away and only appears as a bright light moving through the sky, disconnected from most people, even those who work on the ISS program. The ISS belongs to the world but most people aren't connected to it.

The Mimic project hopes to change that by providing the software, instructions, and 3D printing files for free to everyone. We hope to use this project to connect more people to the ISS. We also hope to get other people involved in helping finish/improve the software and helping make the project more affordable.

Video credit: NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, KSC Visitors Center

Massive thanks to Estefannie Explains It All for filming and editing the entire video!
Check out her channel: youtube.com/channel/UCXX7AV8HDBCZXbKRHJYYODg

email: iss.mimic@gmail.com
fb: facebook.com/ISS.mimic
ig: instagram.com/iss_mimic
twitter: twitter.com/ISS_Mimic

#ISSmimic

updated 3 years ago

ISS Mimic - We made a 3D printed model of the ISS with moving parts!

ISS Mimic 2020-11-02 | We need your help! Whether you are a maker, programmer, educator, space enthusiast, astronaut, or anyone else, we'd like your feedback! We are always looking for ways to lower the project cost and improve the software. Please visit our github github.com/ISS-Mimic/Mimic and join our discord: discord.gg/34ftfJe

ISS Mimic is a 3D-printed, open-source model of the International Space Station that uses live data from the ISS to dynamically match the rotation of the moving joints on the ISS. Our goal is to provide an interactive and informative project for educators and space enthusiasts all over the world.

The ISS outboard truss is constantly rotating, the inboard radiators are moving to position themselves for optimal heat rejection, and the solar arrays are turning to match the sun. The ISS consists of many moving parts but every ISS model in the world is fixed, non-moving, and fails to show just how much activity occurs on the ISS every day. All of this information and more is streamed live from the ISS constantly as "telemetry" (viewable here: iss-mimic.github.io/Mimic)

Mimic uses a Raspberry Pi to receive the telemetry from the ISS, display the ISS data in informative ways, and transmit commands to the microcontrollers which drive the truss, solar arrays, and radiators. The Raspberry Pi software is available to download as a pre-configured image and can be used on it's own to view the current status of the ISS.

The ISS is far away and only appears as a bright light moving through the sky, disconnected from most people, even those who work on the ISS program. The ISS belongs to the world but most people aren't connected to it.

The Mimic project hopes to change that by providing the software, instructions, and 3D printing files for free to everyone. We hope to use this project to connect more people to the ISS. We also hope to get other people involved in helping finish/improve the software and helping make the project more affordable.

Video credit: NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, KSC Visitors Center

Massive thanks to Estefannie Explains It All for filming and editing the entire video!
Check out her channel: youtube.com/channel/UCXX7AV8HDBCZXbKRHJYYODg

email: iss.mimic@gmail.com
fb: facebook.com/ISS.mimic
ig: instagram.com/iss_mimic
twitter: twitter.com/ISS_Mimic

#ISSmimic

ISS Mimic @ Open Sauce 2023 Timelapse!

ISS Mimic 2023-07-30 | ISS Mimic went to the first ever Open Sauce event in San Francisco!

Phenomenal event with a bunch of makers, robot battles, and fascinating folks. As we do, we recorded a timelapse video of us setting up the Mimic and running for booth for 3 days. Amazing experience, hope to return next year!

Was a pleasure talking ISS with all sorts of folks and creators

Time-lapse of ISS Mimic at Comicpalooza

ISS Mimic 2022-07-18 | This weekend we took mimic out to Comicpalooza and met a bunch of awesome folks!

ISS Mimic at STEM outreach during FIRST Robotics National Championship (Houston)

ISS Mimic 2019-09-10 | The purpose of the ISS Mimic project is to create an open-source, 1% scale 3D-printed model of the International Space Station (ISS) that utilizes hobbyist electronic equipment to rotate all of the moving joints on the ISS using actual data transmitted from the ISS in real time. Our objective is to enable anyone in the world to visualize exactly what the ISS is doing at any time in order to spread public spaceflight awareness and further STEM engagement.

The ISS Mimic project is a 100% volunteer effort from space enthusiasts who just want to share our interest in human space exploration. Started by volunteers from Boeing, the project now includes Creatorspace (Creatorspace.org), a non-profit public makerspace near Johnson Space Center (JSC). We have also been engaging with Space Center Houston (SpaceCenter.org) and had our first public event there with ISS Mimic recently with more partnership planned. We have also engaged NASA JSC education outreach leadership.

More info can be found here: github.com/ISS-Mimic/Mimic/wiki

This video, courtesy of Boeing, was from a STEM outreach event during FIRST Robotics Nationals in Houston in April, 2019. The project has matured since, but is still in prototype phase.