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Gpredict is a free, real-time satellite tracking and orbit prediction application for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. It is designed to show where satellites are now and when they will pass over your location, so it suits anyone who wants to follow amateur radio satellites, weather satellites, or other tracked objects without paying for software. The official site at oz9aec.dk is currently under construction, so the software itself is best obtained from its established distribution channels rather than from that page.

What Gpredict does

Gpredict combines two related jobs:

• Real-time tracking — it continuously calculates and displays satellite positions as they move.
• Orbit prediction — it projects future positions so you can see upcoming passes over your ground station.

This makes it useful for planning observations, radio contacts, or antenna pointing, because you can look ahead instead of only watching the current position.

Supported platforms

Gpredict runs on the three major desktop platforms named by the project:

Because the project website is under construction, use your operating system's package manager or the project's established download locations to get the current version.

How to track satellites with Gpredict

1. Install the application

Install Gpredict using the method appropriate to your platform. On Linux this is typically a package manager; on Windows and Mac OS X it is a downloaded build. The expected result is that Gpredict launches and shows a default ground station and module layout.

2. Set your ground station

Your location determines every pass prediction. Enter your latitude, longitude, and altitude so Gpredict can calculate when satellites rise above your horizon. If your position is wrong, every pass time will be wrong.

3. Add satellites and update orbit data

Satellites are tracked using TLE (Two-Line Element) data, which describes their orbits. You need to:

• Add the satellites you care about to a module.
• Update the TLE data regularly, because orbits change over time.

Stale TLE data is the most common reason predictions drift or look wrong. Refresh it before relying on any pass.

4. Read the tracking and prediction views

Once configured, Gpredict provides:

• A map view showing satellite positions and ground tracks.
• Pass predictions listing when a satellite rises, reaches maximum elevation, and sets for your location.
• Tracking displays for following a selected satellite in real time.

Use the pass list to plan ahead, and the map and tracking views to follow the satellite as the pass happens.

Common setup issues

• Wrong pass times — almost always a ground station location error or outdated TLE data.
• Satellite missing from predictions — the satellite may not be added to the active module, or its TLE may not have been updated.
• No passes shown — check that your location is set and that the satellite's orbit actually passes over your latitude.

Where to get help

Since the official site is under construction, look for the project's documentation, user community, and distribution channels for installation help and troubleshooting. The application's own help resources and the amateur satellite community are the practical places to resolve setup problems.

Rocket Universe (often just "Universe") is a multivalue database management system descended from the Pick OS family. You would use it to run and maintain applications built on the multivalue data model — typically long-lived line-of-business systems in sectors like distribution, manufacturing, healthcare, and finance — or to migrate data out of those systems into a modern platform. It is most relevant to you if you already have a Universe application, are inheriting one, or are planning a legacy data migration. If you are starting a brand-new project with no existing multivalue investment, Universe is usually not the first choice.

The multivalue data model in plain terms

Universe stores data in a structure that predates the relational model, and understanding it is the key to everything else.

• File — roughly equivalent to a table. A file holds many records.
• Record — roughly equivalent to a row. Each record has a unique key (the record ID).
• Attribute — a field within a record, identified by a number rather than a name.
• Value — an attribute can hold multiple values, separated by a delimiter. This is the "multi" in multivalue.
• Subvalue — a value can itself be subdivided into subvalues, giving a third level of nesting.

So a single record can hold a whole repeating group — order lines, phone numbers, transaction details — without a separate table or a join. That is the defining feature: repeating data lives inside the record.

A second defining feature is the dictionary. Each file has a dictionary of items that describe how attributes are named, formatted, and calculated. A dictionary item can be a simple field definition, or it can be a computed expression that derives a value at query time. When you migrate data out, the dictionary is as important as the data itself, because it encodes business logic that may not exist anywhere else.

How Universe relates to mvBase and Pick OS

These systems share a common ancestry and a similar data model, but they are not the same product.

The practical point for a migration or support decision: skills and concepts transfer across the family. Someone who knows Pick-style files, records, attributes, and dictionary items can generally read a Universe application, and vice versa. But the tooling, administration, and available interfaces differ between products, so do not assume a procedure written for one applies unchanged to another.

What Universe is used for in practice

• Running existing applications. Many organisations have a Universe-based system that has been extended for years or decades and still does its job reliably.
• Supporting contract or specialist resource needs. Because the skill pool is smaller than for mainstream databases, organisations often bring in contract resources who already know multivalue systems and legacy data migration.
• Feeding data into modern platforms. A common pattern is to keep the Universe application running while extracting its data into a relational or cloud platform — sometimes described as an Oracle transformation or a general legacy migration.

If your goal is a migration, the Universe side is usually the source, not the destination.

What to check before migrating data out of Universe

The data model is the main source of surprises. Before you commit to a migration plan, confirm:

1. The schema, as the system actually sees it. Attribute numbers and positions matter, and they may not match the documentation.
2. The delimiters. Multivalue systems use specific characters to separate attributes, values, and subvalues. You need to know exactly which characters are in use, and whether any of them also appear inside the data itself.
3. The dictionary items. Computed and derived items contain logic that must be reproduced in the target system, or the migrated data will not mean the same thing.
4. Repeating groups. Decide in advance how a multi-valued attribute becomes rows in a relational target — this is where most migration designs get tested.
5. The application layer. Reports, screens, and batch jobs may embed assumptions about the data that are not visible in the raw files.

A migration that copies the data but loses the dictionary logic tends to produce a target system that looks complete but behaves differently.

A note on sourcing and support

The multivalue world is small, and specialist providers come and go. Nine Elms Solutions, a UK firm that described itself primarily as multivalue systems users and designers offering help with legacy data migration, has ceased trading following the retirement of its owner. That is a useful reminder for anyone planning a Universe project: verify that your chosen resource is currently active before you build a plan around them, and keep your own documentation of the schema and dictionary rather than relying on a single external party.

Deciding whether Universe is relevant to you

• You have a running Universe application → it is relevant; focus on support, skills, and whether to migrate.
• You are planning a migration off Universe → it is relevant; start with the schema, delimiters, and dictionary items.
• You are choosing a database for a new project → it is probably not relevant unless you have a specific multivalue requirement or existing in-house expertise.
• You are comparing multivalue systems → treat Pick OS, mvBase, and Universe as related but distinct, and check the specific product's tooling rather than assuming equivalence.

SpaceEngine is a realistic virtual universe simulator you run on your computer. It is built for people who want to travel through a scientifically grounded cosmos rather than a scripted game world: you can move from star to star and galaxy to galaxy, land on planets, moons, or asteroids, and change the speed of time to watch celestial events unfold. The simulation is seamless across a volume billions of light-years wide and contains trillions of planetary systems, according to the official site. It is the right tool if your interest is exploration and observation; it is not a mission-based game with objectives or a scoring loop.

What SpaceEngine actually is

The core idea is a procedural universe grounded in real scientific knowledge. Rather than hand-building every world, SpaceEngine generates planets, stars, and galaxies using rules derived from how modern science thinks the universe is structured. That is what lets the simulation reach a scale no manually authored universe could match, while still depicting objects in a way consistent with current understanding.

Alongside the generated content, real celestial objects are present if you want to visit them. The site specifically lists:

• The planets and moons of our Solar System
• Thousands of nearby stars with newly discovered exoplanets
• Thousands of galaxies that are currently known

So you get two layers in one program: a vast procedural backdrop and a catalog of actual astronomical objects you can go look at directly.

What you can do in it

The interactions described on the official site are the practical answer to "what can you explore":

• Travel at cosmic scale — move from star to star and from galaxy to galaxy.
• Land and explore surfaces — touch down on any planet, moon, or asteroid and examine its alien landscape.
• Control time — alter the speed of time and observe whatever celestial phenomena you choose.
• Move seamlessly — all transitions are described as completely seamless, so there are no loading breaks between leaving orbit and standing on a surface.

That combination is what separates it from a planetarium-style sky viewer: the emphasis is on going there, not just looking up.

How procedural generation shapes what you see

The procedural generation is the mechanism behind the scale. Because worlds are produced from scientific rules instead of being individually designed, the simulator can populate trillions of planetary systems and still present each one as a coherent place with its own landscape. The site frames this as depicting the universe "the way it is thought to be by modern science" — meaning the generated content is an informed extrapolation, not a random fantasy generator.

A useful way to think about it: when you fly to a star that no catalog lists, what you find there was computed from the same physical principles used everywhere else in the simulation, which is why the result stays consistent as you keep traveling.

Getting started

The path from interest to actually exploring is short:

1. Download SpaceEngine from the official site (spaceengine.org), which provides a Download entry point.
2. Read the Universe manual and FAQ for how the simulation is organized and how to navigate it.
3. Work through the Flight School to learn movement and controls in a guided way.
4. Optionally go further with the addon documentation, which covers creating a star, creating a planet, planet textures, planet biome presets, creating a DSO (deep-sky object), creating a ship, and scenario scripts.

The addon and creation material matters if you want to move from exploring to building — it is the documented route to adding your own objects and scenarios rather than only visiting what already exists.

Practical notes before you commit

• SpaceEngine is desktop software, not a browser toy; the site describes it as something you explore "on your computer."
• The official site references Steam and a Buy option in its page metadata, so distribution and purchase run through established channels — check the current listing for price and platform details rather than assuming.
• The project is actively maintained: the news section shows updates such as version 0.991.50.2155 covering ship material settings, catalog updates, and a star browser fix, with public beta builds preceding live releases. If you follow development, expect catalog and feature changes over time.

If your goal is to wander a scientifically motivated cosmos, land on unfamiliar worlds, and bend time to watch them move, SpaceEngine is built for exactly that. Start with the download, then let the manual and Flight School teach you the controls before you go far.