I found a new way to make the "Control Panel" even more interactive.

Last weekend we started hacking the helicopter keypad and once I knew it would work, I asked my son "what can you do in a spaceship with a keypad?" We brainstormed for a while and we came up with the idea of using the keypad for the "nav computer". You type in where you want to go, select the speed, etc.

I started thinking of finding / making some nature of star chart with a coordinate system so that he could see his current location, chart a course, etc.

As I went digging on the net, I found this...

It is a grid-based map of the Star Wars galaxy! It even has zoomed maps of the dense areas...

And an index page!

Original maps here: http://www.xs4all.nl/~wrvh/galaxymap/index.html

Now I get the fun of building a basic navigation system on the Arduino...although probably not right away.

I want to think about it for a little while to let the idea evolve. Send me any comments or ideas you have on the topic!