Atlas V Centaur
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Atlas V Centaur is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a rocket stage, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 15,152 triangles in a 87 kB glTF file, and is 13 m across at full scale.
It is part of the map’s library; no object on the live map is drawn with it today.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Length | 12.68 m |
| Diameter | 3.05 m |
| Engine length | 2.32 m |
Atlas V Launch Services User's Guide (ULA, 2010) as Wikipedia, 'Centaur (rocket stage)' (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur_(rocket_stage)) states it, read 2026-10-26: Centaur III 'Diameter 3.05 m (10 ft)', 'Length 12.68 m (42 ft)', engine 'length 2.32 m', 'diameter 1.53 m', one RL10. OURS: where the bulkhead rings, weld rings, lines and avionics boxes sit, the gold blankets' places (read 2026-10-26)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions; compared with NASA's, the Space Force's and SDASM's photographs of Centaur stages.
The full record
built by this project in code (tools/stage-builder/, release 1.4.0 stage r14-m1: stagelib.py and one function a stage in stages.py); no image-to-3D model was used and no published mesh: none of NASA 3D Resources' 1 583 paths is this stage and a web search found no agency or operator model of it (read 2026-10-26)
Where the map uses it. catalogue name ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B (klass rocket): the Common Centaur (Centaur III) of Atlas V, 63 in orbit; public #1165
Licence note. The shape is this project's, under this repository's licence, built from published numbers (facts). Every picture it was compared with is listed under references; each was only looked at, none was traced, copied or projected, and the share-alike ones (CC BY-SA) are credited all the same.
References 3
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Centaur Upper Stage Installation Recognizes Trailblazing Space Program (8706287)U.S. Space ForcePublic domain (U.S. Space Force photograph; Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Centaur 6A Rocket in the Space Power Chambers Shop Area (GRC-1964-C-71099)NASA Lewis Research CenterPublic domain (NASA; Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Centaur Removal From Transporter into Work Stand at VPFSDASM ArchivesNo restrictions (SDASM Archives; Commons LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
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Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Atlas V Centaur 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=atlas5-centaur" title="Atlas V Centaur, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
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