Fun with Figma Make — Simulating the Solar System
A NASA-accurate Solar System simulation built in Figma Make — no code required. WebGL, real Kepler orbital mechanics solved via Newton-Raphson iteration, and ephemeris data from NASA JPL Horizons.
I built a NASA-accurate Solar System simulation using Figma Make — no code required.
The app uses WebGL to simulate the solar system. I recreated the orbits of all 8 planets using real astrophysics, not canned animation. It solves Kepler's Equation — the 400-year-old formula behind orbital motion — through Newton-Raphson iteration, just like NASA's own software.
All data comes from NASA JPL Horizons (J2000 epoch) — the same dataset used for mission planning. Planets follow true elliptical, 3D orbits that speed up near the Sun and slow down farther away. Even comets bend and sling past the Sun under its gravity, their paths curving dynamically as in real space.
You can even fast-forward time to watch which planets will be engulfed when the Sun expands into a red giant at the end of its life — a glimpse of the far future, simulated through math.
Live simulation — drag to rotate, scroll to zoom, fast-forward time to the red-giant phase
The bigger idea
We're entering a future where students won't just write book reports — they'll build living, interactive simulations to explore how the universe works.
- Figma Make
- WebGL
- physics
- education
- AI tooling