A behind‑the‑scenes look at the real NASA data work powering Warp Ancestor.
I’ve launched a new YouTube series that documents the actual technical process behind building Warp Ancestor’s full-scale solar system simulation.
The series is called Debugging the Solar System, and each episode captures real debugging sessions using real NASA datasets — nothing staged, nothing scripted.
This isn’t a cinematic devlog. It’s the real engineering work that happens under the hood.
What the series covers
Each episode focuses on a specific part of the pipeline:
Importing and validating NASA STL and asteroid models
Repairing low‑poly meshes and correcting shading issues in Blender
Verifying orbital positions using NASA ephemeris data
Fixing drift, inaccuracies, and long‑term stability problems
Preparing assets for use inside the full‑scale traversal simulation
Demonstrating the actual debugging workflow in real time
If you’ve ever wondered how a hard‑science simulation is built—not the marketing version, but the real thing—this series shows it directly.
Latest Episode: NASA Asteroid Safari
In Episode 3, I track down several NASA‑tracked asteroids, compare their expected positions with their in‑engine behavior, and repair the low‑poly meshes using shader‑based smoothing in Blender. It’s a full walkthrough of the asset‑repair process for small‑body objects.
Developer Notes for this Episode:
http://thewarpancestor.com/developer-notes/hunting-for-nasa-tracked-asteroids/
Why I’m sharing this
Warp Ancestor is built on real scientific data—orbital mechanics, NASA terrain, and accurate scale.
This series is a way to show the work honestly, without spectacle or shortcuts. If you’re interested in the technical side of simulation or you want to see how real NASA assets are integrated into a game engine, this series is for you.
More episodes are coming as the simulation continues to evolve.
And the demo is available for download.