To Infinity & Beyond

Yesterday I visited the Night Maps exhibition at the Warburg Institute, which explores the history of celestial maps and globes, and how mapping the heavens has shaped our understanding of the world. Which might account for why I was so blown away by TripGeo Space - a brand new collection of space and sci-fi development projects.

Currently, TripGeo Space consists of two interstellar space tours:

• Solar Trip
• Cosmic Trip

I'm not sure how accurately either tour represents the cosmos, or even whether they strictly qualify as maps at all. However, both are really impressive interactive 3D tours - and perhaps the closest I'll ever get to fulfilling my dreams of space travel.

In Solar Trip, you're taken on “a hyper-fast cruise round the real Solar System aboard the luxury starliner Seraphine”. There are plenty of options to customise your voyage. You can choose from several themed trips, including tours of the giant planets, Jupiter's moons, Saturn's rings and the icy worlds beyond Neptune, or plan your own itinerary using the voyage planner.

You can also adjust your travel speed, choose where to begin aboard the ship, and switch between cinematic and relativistic drive effects. During the voyage, you can customise the visual detail, turn narration on or off, and explore the ship itself. My tip is to remember two particularly useful keyboard shortcuts: N skips to the next destination, while Tab opens the voyage planner. Both are handy if you want to get straight to the next stop or plot your own course through the Solar System.

After exploring our Solar System, you should be ready to travel to infinity and beyond with Cosmic Trip. Aboard the survey ship Lumen, you embark on a voyage through space and time, starting with the Big Bang and travelling through the formation of the first stars and galaxies, black holes, stellar nurseries and the many different lives and deaths of stars, before eventually returning home to our own Sun and Earth.

As with Solar Trip, you can explore the ship, customise your journey and adjust the speed of your voyage. Cosmic Trip also features a cosmic timeline, along with science consoles containing articles and infographics that explain the phenomena you encounter along the way.