VTS 3.9.1, codename Supernova, is now available for download. This release is named in tribute to the SBMT software integrating VTS, operated by the French Payload Operation Centre (FPOC) to provide consolidated visualization of MXT and ECLAIRs instrument data from the Franco-Chinese SVOM satellite. Launched in 2024, SVOM’s mission focuses on observing cosmic gamma-ray bursts (SVOM).

What’s New

Here are some highlights from this release, including notable features from version 3.8 that weren’t previously announced :

• Qt 6 Migration & High-DPI Support – Following the migration to Qt 6, display rendering on high-resolution screens has been significantly improved. Minimum target platforms are now Windows 10 and CentOS 7 64-bit.
• Schema Validation – All .vts files can now be verified against the official XSD directly within the Configurator, allowing structural errors to be identified.
• Python Project SDK – The new pyVTS Python library enables programmatic creation and refactoring of VTS projects based on the XSD schema of the VTS file format, making it ideal for CI workflows and data pipelines. Examples are available in the Docs\PyVTS directory.

 

• Frameless Mode – Client applications can now operate without borders when configured through scenario states, creating cleaner visual presentations.

• Enhanced Orbit Visualization – Past and future segments of orbit traces can now be independently color-coded, providing immediate visual temporal context.

• Spectral Star Rendering – Stars in OmniView now display colors derived from the Hipparcos B-V index with improved magnitude-based sizing for more accurate astronomical representation.
• OmniView Zoom-to-Region – Navigate quickly to specific areas of interest in OmniView applications by dragging with the middle mouse button. This functionality is also accessible remotely through the new CMD PROP ZoomToRegion protocol keyword.
• Secure Web-Maps with HTTPS – WMS/WMTS layers are now retrieved over HTTPS via the embedded OpenSSL stack, ensuring compatibility with modern web security standards.

For comprehensive information about all enhancements and fixes, please refer to the full changelog. Remember that contextual documentation is available by pressing F1 within the Configurator.

We welcome your feedback on VTS. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to share your use cases, suggest improvements, or report any issues at https://timeloop.fr/vts/contact/.

 

Feature image credits

The VTS team is very pleased to announce that VTS 3.7 “Night” has been released and is available for download at https://timeloop.fr/vts/download.

 

What’s new ?

This version is mainly focused on bug fixes and improvements, here are some notables changes.

Dark mode

A dark theme has been added for a more comfortable user experience. It can be enabled through the File/Settings menu.

ZenithView targeting tool

ZenithView display has been improved, enabling users to show a pointed direction by holding down the shift or ctrl key.

 

 

Scriptable Infobox experiment

A basic JavaScript interface has been added for Infobox, providing more control on display. This feature has a very small API for the moment but will be improved in the future.

Colormap for Timeline event data files

Customization of timeline colors is now possible by utilizing colors defined in CIC-CCSDS color files. This feature can be accessed through the “configure timeline options” dialog.

 

Accessing Help in the VTS Configurator

As a reminder, all features are described in the user manual available as contextual help within the VTS Configurator by pressing the F1 key.

 

[image credit]

 

The VTS team is very pleased to announce that VTS 3.6 “Rendezvous” has just been released and is available for download at https://timeloop.fr/vts/download.

 

What’s new ?

Relative coordinates

It is now possible to specify a reference frame to define the position and attitude of a satellite. By default, the reference frame center is the satellite parent body, but it can be changed to another satellite. The available reference frame types are : EME2000, Body fixed, TNW and QSW. Position and attitude are defined in the same reference frame.

A chaser satellite defined with absolute coordinates (blue), and the same satellite defined with relative coordinates (pink)

 

 

Visualizers

New graphical objects can be added to a satellite (only, for the moment) to visualize the orbits in a more visual context. Currently the available visualizers are ellipsoids, grids and spherical shell.

Much more !

• Support for CIC data exchange protocol version V3.0
• New “Tracking Shot” mode to define custom camera travelling animations
• Cascade layout in the Window Geometry Manager

To see the complete list of features, improvements and bugfixes included in VTS 3.6 please read the full changelog.

Contact us !

As always we are interested in your feedback to keep improving VTS.

Take a look at our contact page to send us any comment, suggestion or question you might have.

 

 

We are very pleased to announce that VTS 3.4 “Moon” has just been released and is available for download at https://timeloop.fr/vts/download.

What’s new ?

Lunar missions

Exciting missions are coming for solar system moons (MMX, JUICE, …). VTS 3.4 adds support for missions to solar system moons and small bodies by allowing you to define mission ephemerides in the celestial body reference frame.

VTS 3.4 also includes CNES ephemerides for the Moon which can now be selected from the list of celestial bodies.

Timeline badges

Dealing with multiple items in VTS Timeline can become a difficult task, specially when no file naming convention is defined! VTS 3.4 allows you to organize Timeline files with the help of badges.

Badges can be added to any Timeline file and can represent anything relevant to the mission (such as a category or a specific format). The contextual menu allows you to add/remove badges, rename or customize existing badges and also to use them as filters for the displayed files.

The way Badges are displayed can also be customized from VTS settings.

Station-Satellite visibility links

In 2017, VTS 3.1 added the possibility to display Station-Satellite visibility links in SurfaceView.

In VTS 3.4 we continue to improve this feature by adding support in Celestia and ZenithView.

Customization is also improved as now you can change the font and the text that is displayed from the application initial states (i.e. VTS>Applications>ZenithView).

Much more !

• Ground station sensors can be defined with Azimuth-Elevation constraints
• Mode “Synchronize with system time” can be dynamically disabled and re-enabled from Broker
• PrestoPlot client upgraded to version v19.11

To see the complete list of features, improvements and bugfixes included in VTS 3.4 please read the full changelog.

Contact us !

As always we are interested in your feedback to keep improving VTS.

Take a look at our contact page to send us any comment, suggestion or question you might have.

 

[1] “Design of realistic trajectories for the exploration of Phobos”, Canalias et al., AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Kissimmee (FL, USA), January 2018, https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2018-0716

[2] “Mission Programming for the Mars Moon eXplorer Mission”, Astruc Maxime, 2019.

 

The VTS team is happy to announce the release of VTS 3.3 ! This version is called “Ozone” as a reference to the IASI-NG project that will contribute to weather forecasting, pollution monitoring, and climate research. VTS is involved in the validation process of IASI-NG as a support for CNES experts during instrument tests campaigns. VTS connectivity and extension capabilities have proven to be effective for implementing use-cases such as real-time telemetry decode, convenient scenario definition and human-readable data visualization.

What’s new ?

To see the complete list of features, improvements and bugfixes included in VTS 3.3 please read the full changelog.

Wavefront OBJ support and new 3DS loader

The Wavefront OBJ file format is now supported for satellite and component 3D models. A new 3DS loader is also available and can be used in case a 3DS model is not displayed correctly using the default default 3DS reader (see “Force legacy 3DS reader” property in Celestia initial states).

Auto-arrange client windows

Window manager options have been improved in order to arrange multiple windows at once.

Project entities and states filters

New filters allow you to find a specific VTS project entity (such as a satellite or region) or scenario state.

Use Ctrl+F to focus the filter filed and enter a keyword or a RegExp expression (Perl-like pattern).

PrestoPlot upgraded

VTS is now shipped with PrestoPlot v18.07 including new features and bugfixes (full changelog available directly in PrestoPlot : “Help” menu / “Version History”).

Contact us !

As always we are interested in your feedback to keep improving VTS.

Take a look at our contact page to send us any comment, suggestion or question you might have.

We are very pleased to announce that VTS 3.2 “Zenith” has just been released and is available for download.

VTS 3.2 owes its name to the new client application called “ZenithView”. Some of the new features aim to help the Operational Orbit Determination Centre (COO) at CNES in their work of avoiding satellite collision (FR article) with space debris or other satellites.

What’s new ?

ZenithView

ZenithView displays the celestial sphere as seen from a ground station. More precisely it displays a Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection of the celestial sphere centered on a specific ground station.

Satellites and celestial bodies are projected according to their position relative to the station.

As you can see in the image, objects outside the field of view can be projected on the horizon (or not displayed at all).

 

Ground station sensors & masks

Ground stations now supports multiple (and orientable) sensors that can be displayed both in 2D and 3D.

Visibility masks can now be defined for ground stations. Masks are defined in the station frame using azimuth/elevation data files and are displayed in ZenithView.

More on this coming soon!

 

Positional covariance

The positional covariance of a satellite can now be displayed in 3D as an ellipsoid representing the uncertainty of an orbit state. This can be done with either fixed or time-dependent data.

 

Window Geometry Manager

The new window geometry manager allows you to configure the position and size of each client application defined in your VTS project.

Client applications can be easily placed on the primary or secondary screens and their positions and size will be adapted to different screen configurations.

 

Frameless and always-on-top

OmniView now supports Frameless and Always-on-top modes. As seen in the image below, these modes can be used to create more friendly and cleaner visualizations.

 

User Manual & Contextual Help

A brand new HTML User Manual is shipped with VTS 3.2 and accessible from the Help menu in VTS.

Contextual help is also available by pressing F1 key.

 

PrestoPlot 2017

VTS is now shipped with PrestoPlot v17.07. This is a big step forward bringing new features, performance improvements, and bugfixes to the VTS package.

 

Synchronize your own application !

VTS 3.2 is shipped with examples showing how to connect and synchronize your own applications using Python, Tcl and Java.

You will also find an XSD schema describing the VTS project in the [VTS]/Docs/Schemas directory. This schema allows you to generate an API in the programming language of your preference and to create valid VTS projects programatically. Please refer to the “Plugin development” chapter in the VTS User Manual.

 

And much more…

To see the complete list of features, improvements and bugfixes included in VTS 3.2 please read the full changelog.

 

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We want to hear from you !

As always we are interested in your feedback to keep improving VTS.

Take a look at our contact page to send us any comment, suggestion or question you might have.

We are very pleased to announce that VTS 3.1 “Kourou” has just been released and is available for download.

What’s new ?

VTS is now based on Qt5

A lot of work has been put into porting VTS from Qt4 to Qt5. This opens the door to further improvements and shows that VTS is looking towards the future. This also means that VTS will no longer be released for some old platforms although support will continue to be provided.

Recommended platforms for VTS 3.1:

• CentOS 7 64 bits
• CentOS 6 32/64 bits
• Windows 7

WMTS/WMS support

WMTS (Web Map Tile Service) protocol has been added for tiled maps. A new wizard helps in defining WMS/WMTS URL adresses.

Orthodromic measurements

SurfaceView now provides a set of tools for measuring orthodromic distances (also called great-circle distances). This includes three main modes:

• Simple Mode (F6 key): point to point measurements
• Chained Mode (F7 key): the end point of a measurement becomes the beginning point of the next one
• Central Mode (F8 key): all measurements are done from a central point (see image below)

An interesting feature that can be used in any of the previous modes is the ability to make POI-to-ROI and ROI-to-ROI distance measurements. By using using Shift+click over an ROI, the shortest distance from the region boundaries to the cursor is displayed. Measurements can also be direction-constrained using the Alt key.

Satellite-Station visibility

VTS 3.1 “Kourou” introduces some new features related to the geometrical visibility between a satellite and a ground station targeting its altitude.

• SurfaceView: geometrical visibility links are displayed between satellites and ground stations
• Celestia: new 3D cameras were added
  • View from Satellite (to Ground Station)
  • View towards Satellite (from Ground Station)

And more…

To see the complete list of features, improvements and bugfixes included in VTS 3.1 please visit the changelog.

We want to hear from you !

As always we are interested in your feedback to keep improving VTS. Take a look at our contact page to send us any comment, suggestion or question you might have.

You are also welcome to share your screenshots or videos so we can publish them in the website.

We hope you enjoy this release and we wish you a pleasant and productive experience with VTS.