Polar Magnetosphere Spacecraft 3D Model

Polar, the NASA spacecraft launched in 1996 to study the flow of particles and plasma within Earth's magnetic field and to image the aurora. The model shows a drum-shaped body, four long radial wire antennas with small spheres near their tips, long axial masts above and below, and two lattice booms, one ending in a small box.

Technical details: about 10,000 polygons and 31,000 vertices, with 11 colour materials and no image textures. That is light enough for real-time and web use. It is scaled to 5 metres across its long wire antennas and booms, so the body is small; the viewer opens close on the body.

The download includes GLB for web viewers and three.js, FBX for Unity, Unreal Engine and Maya, OBJ as a widely supported mesh, and BLEND for Blender. AiZity cleaned up the original (centred, grounded and renamed the parts) and converted it to these formats.

Good for aurora and magnetosphere lessons, space weather explainers, spinning-satellite animations and science documentaries.

License: Public domain, made by NASA/Christopher R. Meaney (a U.S. government work). Free for personal and commercial use; please credit NASA. NASA logos and insignia are not included, and use must not suggest NASA endorsement.