SpaceEngine Is Your Ticket to Explore the Universe

Real space exploration takes a long time. Pluto is about 10 years from Earth , considering you’re traveling in a high-speed ship like New Horizons . However, the nearest planet outside our solar system is about four light-years away , meaning it would take New Horizons about 81,000 years to reach the speed. You need to take some good games with you for this trip. Or instead, you can just use SpaceEngine to explore the universe.

SpaceEngine is a game that allows you to fly through space at incredible speeds, allowing you to explore parts of the universe that we could never do otherwise. Of course, the vast majority of us will never explore space in the first place, but hey, even Chris Hadfield could check out Saturn up close. Whatever speed you choose will be reflected in the game’s HUD, so you’ll know if you’re moving according to the laws of physics, or if you’ve learned how to travel faster than light.

Speaking of the HUD, there are tons of options and controls to play with as you explore. You’ll find a large information panel to learn everything there is to know about a given space object, a browser for instantly jumping to different objects, a navigation bar to make it easier to navigate, and filters to control how objects actually look on screen. You can even control time itself to view astronomical events over long periods of time.

But SpaceEngine is more than just a fancy version of Google Earth. Of course, you can test the usual suspects in our solar system (Mars, Venus, Jupiter, etc.), but you can also take a sharp turn towards the rest of the universe . You can explore constellations, distant galaxies – any point that appears on the empty canvas of space belongs to you. It can even become a mind-boggling journey on a grand scale once you realize that every speck of light you see is a separate galaxy.

However, SpaceEngine is not a one-to-one model of the universe. This, of course, would be impossible to create. To fill in many knowledge gaps, SpaceEngine procedurally generates objects in space for you to explore. So it’s a bit like No Man’s Sky , but also mixed with real objects.

One thing that makes SpaceEngine different is landing. You can land on any planet, real or procedurally generated, and see a detailed rendering of the object’s surface. What’s more, you can look up at the sky and see what the universe would look like from the surface of any planet. For example, you can not only explore one of Jupiter’s moons, but also land on it and see what the gas giant looks like in the sky.

You can purchase the full version of SpaceEngine for $24.99 on Steam or GOG . However, older versions of SpaceEngine are available for free download on the company’s official website . You’ll miss out on the latest updates, but you’ll be able to experience pure game exploration without spending a dime. If you try the free game, don’t skimp on the HD texture add-ons that add high-quality models of planets and moons to our solar system. Similar options are available on Steam for a paid game.