Enabling "Discovery" Through Open Access

The Space Shuttle Discovery is more than 122 feet long and weighs more than 4.5 million pounds. How can we begin to study the details of an object this big from anywhere in the world?

Cesium is proud to support the Smithsonian’s Open Access Initiative with the technology that makes it possible.

Through Open Access, the Smithsonian will release millions of 2D and 3D images, public collections metadata, and institutional research datasets as CC0 for any purpose.

We’re celebrating by making high-resolution 3D models of the Space ShuttleDiscovery, and other large objects in the Smithsonian’s collections, easier to share over the web.

Use your mouse or touch screen to explore the 3D model in full detail below:

Making massive high-resolution 3D models shareable begins at the intersection of Cesium’s core competencies of computer graphics, 3D data, and open standards. With Cesium, glTF models are converted to 3D Tiles, an open specification we developed to make sharing massive amounts of 3D data as simple as sending a link.

Cesium develops, supports, and promotes open standards with organizations like the Open Geospatial Consortium and The Khronos® Group to advance technology, encourage collaboration, and fuel cross-disciplinary innovation.

Together, we’re working to make 3D data accessible to everyone.

Support generously provided by Meredith Siegfried Madden and Dr. Peter Madden.