GOLDSTAR ORBITAL
Golden Orbital Defense
A free space game that runs in your browser. Launch from Earth, dock with the ISS, fly to Mars, then hold its orbit against asteroids.
Golden Orbital Defense
PLAY IN YOUR BROWSER
You start on the launch pad in pixel art and climb through ten seconds of birds and satellites. Above the atmosphere the view opens up into 3D. You fly the docking approach to the International Space Station, take on fuel, and set out for Mars. The crossing takes about four minutes and gets harder the closer you get.
At Mars the crew lands and the job changes. Asteroids come in from every direction, aimed at the colony, and they get better at slipping past you. Between waves you put satellites into orbit to help hold the line.
Eight levels to Mars orbit
Liftoff, the ISS rendezvous, five stretches of open space, then Mars. The levels after that keep going for as long as the colony holds.
Real spacecraft
The station, your orbiter and the satellites you build use NASA's public 3D models of the ISS, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, TDRS, Landsat 8 and others. Every asteroid is cut from the shape model of Bennu.
A colony to keep alive
Keep the greenhouses warm, bring out specialists, and once you have caught enough reactor cores, detonate warheads on the polar ice to thicken the air.
How to play
It plays best on a desktop or laptop with a keyboard and mouse. Touch controls cover the basics. The in-game menu has the full control list, sensitivity, sound and saves.
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Steer | WASD or arrow keys |
| Aim | Mouse. Click the game to take control, Esc to let go. |
| Fire | Space, Enter or left click |
| Boost | Shift (brakes while docking) |
| Look back | Right click or B |
| Build at Mars | Hold Tab, move the mouse toward an item, release |
| Repair | E |
| Warhead | N, once it is armed |
| Pause and menu | P and Esc |
Saves
There is no account and no game server. Your callsign, best score and saved flight live in this browser on this device. Clearing browser data removes them, so the menu lets you download a backup file and load it again later or on another computer.
Physics and colony systems are simplified for play. Credits for models, fonts and software.