Qt Celestial Browser - Solar System Browser spacecraft filter results

[dave-kaye]

Within the QT interface is a View -> Celestial Browser -> Solar System tab. It has a filter for the objects consisting of types: Planets and moons, Asteroids, Spacecraft and Comets. The interface uses checkboxes for this filter. Checking a box will display only the items associated with that checkbox. The interface allows multiple checkboxes to be selected at the same time.

Spacecraft will not display if the object they are associated with is not checked (displayed). Therefore, if only "Spacecraft" is checked, only spacecraft associated with the Sun are displayed. If "Planets and moons" is also checked, then spacecraft associated with Earth, Mars, Moon, etc. are also displayed.

I believe that all the spacecraft within the Solar System should be displayed if the "Spacecraft" box is checked - with a display tree showing where the spacecraft are located. A user would expect the complete spacecraft list; and would not expect the need to check the object being orbited type checkbox. For example, such a display with only the "Spacecraft" box checked is:

Sol                 Star
  |
  -- Earth          Planet
  |    |
  |    -- ISS       Spacecraft
  |    |
  |    -- Hubble    Spacecraft
  |    |
  |    -- Moon      Moon
  |        |
  |        -- LRO  Spacecraft
  |
  -- Mars
      |
      -- MRO       Spacecraft
     

Note that the Earth and Moon are listed since they both have spacecraft orbiting them. Mars is listed with a spacecraft, but the Martian moons are not listed since they have no spacecraft.