Comparison

Rocket Lab vs ISS Explorer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Rocket Lab

Design, build, and launch virtual rockets as a rocket engineer. Make critical decisions about components like propellant and control systems to ensure mission success. Explore suborbital, orbital, and escape velocity missions with this educational simulation.

Highlights
  • Design virtual rockets
  • Choose rocket components
  • Personalize rocket name
  • Launch and observe flight
  • Modify for mission success
  • Explore different mission types
Features
Read full description

What does it take to be a rocket scientist? You are a rocket engineer for a space exploration company. Your job is to design a series of rockets and attempt suborbital, orbital, and escape velocity missions. Successfully designing and launching a rocket into space is extremely difficult, expensive, and full of tough choices. Rocket components such as shape, propellant, control system, and staging affect the way a rocket flies. With each new mission, you must take into consideration each component’s reliability, cost, and performance. Have you chosen a powerful enough propellant? Is your control system prone to high failure rates? Failure is not an option here! The decisions you make will directly affect the success or failure of your rocket – and your space exploration company – because this is rocket science. With the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum's Rocket Lab, you can: - Build a virtual rocket by choosing its shape, number of stages, propellant, and control mechanism - Personalize your rocket with your name - Launch your rocket and watch how well it flies - Modify your rocket to test out different combinations and achieve mission success

About

ISS Explorer

Explore a detailed 3D model of the International Space Station. Rotate, zoom, and select individual components to learn about their function and systems. Organize your view by turning parts and labels on or off.

Highlights
  • Interactive 3D ISS model
  • Rotate and zoom functionality
  • Selectable parts with isolation
  • Detailed information on components
  • Hierarchical part organization
  • Toggle parts and labels
Features
Read full description

The ISS explorer is an interactive tool for exploring the parts and pieces of the International Space Station (ISS). The application allows the user to view a 3D model of the ISS, rotate it, zoom into it, and select different parts and pieces. When the application starts, you can see a view of the entire ISS with category labels. Tabs are available on the left hand side of the screen which allow you access to information, the hierarchy, settings and application information. From this point, you can zoom into the station, revealing more labels of visible parts. The station can also be rotated to view from different angles. If a part is selected, the part is isolated so that you can focus on the specific piece. The information tab shows information about the currently isolated part. Inside the hierarchy tab, you can turn parts on or off, turn labels for parts on or off, turn parts transparent, or select a part to focus on. The parts are organized in a hierarchy to allow for systems to be described and displayed. This includes things such as truss, modules, and external platforms. The Information tab shows information about the current isolated part, system, or the full ISS if the entire station is shown.

Screenshots

ISS Explorer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ISS Explorer at 100% against Rocket Lab's 23%. ISS Explorer also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.9) and device support (3 vs 1). Rocket Lab's advantage is iOS requirement (6.0 vs 13.0). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ISS Explorer holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 13 and 16 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 23% of Rocket Lab's written reviews are positive against 100% of ISS Explorer's.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Rocket Lab versus ISS Explorer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRocket LabISS Explorer
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.9 (13 ratings)4.9 (16 ratings) — better
Positive reviews23.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1316 — better
Update frequency—Every 10 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS6.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size218 MB747 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSmithsonian InstitutionNASA

Customer experience

Rocket Lab

All ratings13 ratings
Positive46.2%
Neutral7.7%
Negative46.2%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive23.1%
Neutral15.4%
Negative61.5%

ISS Explorer

All ratings16 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Rocket Lab

No in-app purchases

None

ISS Explorer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Rocket Lab free?
Rocket Lab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ISS Explorer free?
ISS Explorer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Rocket Lab or ISS Explorer?
ISS Explorer is rated higher. Rocket Lab averages 2.9 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while ISS Explorer averages 4.9 from 16 ratings.
Do Rocket Lab or ISS Explorer have ads?
Neither Rocket Lab nor ISS Explorer shows ads.

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