JTPS is a scenario that lets you explore Hector Servadac´s world freely in three dimensions. It is designed as a plug-in module to Celestia, an open-source space simulator available for Windows, OSX and Linux (see the About page for details.)

Note that clicking on an image on this website will open it full-screen, while clicking on it´s caption text will launch Celestia and take you there.

Jules Verne´s 1877 novel Off on a Comet was the very first story of a journey through our solar system, and as such, an exiting popularisation of what was known about it at the time.
The comet Gallia on a collision course with the Earth
It is science fiction from the early days, older even than H.G. Well´s works. It´s premise is pure fantasy, unlike most of Verne´s stories: a tale of 37 people stranded on a comet after a really close encounter with the Earth. As the last chapter reveals, it is obviously also Alternate History - very possibly the first in this genre... Culturally, the book is a product of it´s times, and it should be read with that in mind, but nevertheless it is a great adventure.

Early in 2004 i made Off on a Comet. It made for a fun diversion, and even got a mention in Discover Magazine´s October 2004 issue, but the work was very rudimentary. I wanted to redesign it: the result is A Journey Through Planetary Space.

Left: a closer look at Gallia during the Venus flyby

JTPS features high resolution, detailed 3D locations and craft, and three full space journeys: Gallia´s tour of the solar system, Servadac´s flight back to Earth, and the english garrison´s unexpected departure.

Verne describes the Dobryna´s journey in such detail that i was able to measure the coastlines and paint the map after his data. Superimposed on this, i used a real map of the Mediterranean, and plotted in the terrestrial bits of land the travellers came upon. These bits of land were then sampled from satellite photographs of the actual areas and painted in - they are real, and marked on the map below.
A map of Gallia: places noted in yellow can be visited in hi-res detail

The journey happens in 1880-82 to allow for a natural trajectory (Verne´s data are wrong, which affects his calendar - see the Timeline).

On Gallia´s path there are flybys of Neptune, Earth, Venus Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and numerous moons.

Left: Gallia´s trajectory

Modelling the islands, i simplified them: Nina´s Hive is smaller than described, Gourbi Island has one, not two, houses, the tomb is in open air, and the land that breaks off is trimmed down. This was done to keep the polygon count down and still get aesthetically pleasing scenes.

The scenery are embedded in high resolution surface maps, showing a living, detailed ocean in the summer and ice in the winter. Night maps reflect light off the water...

Left: Night lights

One major new feature is separate flight trajectories for both the balloon and the Gibraltar fragment. If you have a high-resolution Earthmap, the balloon flight is quite breathtaking (on the timeline page there´s a shot taken with Jestr´s 32k Earth - see for yourself).

Left: Servadac´s Balloon

Verne says nothing on the fate of Gibraltar (though a mention in one of his later novels show they survived) so i sent it on a rendezvous with the Moon - just for the eye candy...

The courtyard in front of the house on Gibraltar: the Moon and Earth drifting by

Another new feature: as the comet gets further from the sun, it freezes over. The entire world turns white, and the landscapes are covered by snow and ice. Gallia goes through three winters and two summers during the journey through our planetary space...

Left: Gallia in wintertime: aphelion at Saturn

From left: The Gourbi - with Europa in the sky, The volcano of Nina´s Hive, winter on St. Louis
(at aphelion, Saturn in the sky), and Gibraltar during the remote Mars flyby