Doom Is Now Running on a Satellite in Orbit
▼ Summary
– Programmers successfully ran the classic game Doom on an orbiting satellite and replaced its hellish backgrounds with real-time Earth images taken by the satellite itself.
– This achievement was presented by programmer Ólafur Waage at the Ubuntu Summit, an annual event for Linux professionals and enthusiasts.
– The project began when Waage was contacted by a European Space Agency engineer about running Doom on the ESA’s OP-SAT experimental satellite.
– OP-SAT is a small, suitcase-sized satellite built mostly from off-the-shelf computer parts, serving as a test platform for unique orbital experiments.
– After initial success without graphics, the team enabled software rendering and used machine learning to adapt Earth images to Doom’s 256-color palette limitations.
The legendary video game Doom has now been successfully run on an actual satellite orbiting Earth, marking one of the most ambitious technical demonstrations in gaming history. This project went far beyond simply launching the classic shooter into space, it also integrated real-time satellite imagery of our planet directly into the game’s environment, replacing the fiery hellscapes of the original with views captured by the very hardware running the software.
At the recent Ubuntu Summit, an annual event for the Linux community, programmer Ólafur Waage detailed the intricate process behind this space-bound port. He explained how a collaboration between software developers and aerospace engineers led to Doom operating on the European Space Agency’s OPSAT satellite. The initiative began when Georges Labrèche, a spacecraft operations engineer at the ESA, reached out to Waage. At the time, Waage was already involved in a separate effort to translate Doom from its original C code into C++.
The OPSAT satellite served as an ideal testbed for this unusual experiment. Designed as a compact, suitcase-sized platform built largely from commercial off-the-shelf computer components, it offers a flexible environment for conducting novel experiments in orbit. Initially, the team confirmed they could execute the game’s code on the satellite hardware, even without a visual interface. This initial success proved the concept was feasible.
Following that milestone, the engineers pushed further. They enabled software rendering to produce actual graphics, allowing Doom to be played visually on the satellite’s systems. The most visually striking innovation, however, was the replacement of Doom’s infernal skybox. Using images of Earth taken by the OPSAT’s own camera, the team employed a machine learning algorithm to process the photos, adapting them to fit within Doom’s restrictive 256-color palette. Some adjustments to the game’s color limitations were necessary, but the final result was a seamless integration of real orbital imagery into the game’s display.
This achievement firmly places the OPSAT satellite on the long and quirky list of unconventional platforms that can run Doom. It demonstrates not only the game’s incredible versatility and enduring appeal but also the creative potential of combining space technology with software hacking. The project stands as a testament to what curious and skilled engineers can accomplish when they blend gaming culture with aerospace innovation.
(Source: Kotaku)
