Awesome Space
A curated list of space-related code, APIs, data, and other resources.
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Table of Contents
Astronomy
Astronomy APIs
- AstroBin API - AstroBin is an image hosting website specifically targeted to astrophotographers. Its API offers a basic set of RESTful endpoints. Currently the API is read-only, and allows you to get data about images, and perform basic searches.
- astrometry.net - "If you have astronomical imaging of the sky with celestial coordinates you do not know—or do not trust—then Astrometry.net is for you. Input an image and we'll give you back astrometric calibration meta-data, plus lists of known objects falling inside the field of view."
- Markarian Multiwavelength Data Center (MMDC) - Multiwavelength SEDs and light curves of blazars from archival catalogues and new Swift, NuSTAR and Fermi-LAT analyses, with a REST API, a Python client (astro-mmdc) and SSC/EIC/hadronic modeling.
- Open Astronomy Catalog API - The Open Astronomy Catalog API (OACAPI) offers a lightweight, simple way to access data available via the Open Astronomy Catalogs (e.g. the Open Supernova, Tidal Disruption, Kilonova, and Fast Stars Catalogs).
- SpaceXDB-Api - SpaceXDB is a website containing SpaceX launch information and telemetry.
Astronomy Software
Radio Astronomy
- VIRGO - An open-source Spectrometer for Radio Astronomy
Visualization
- 100,000 Stars - 100,000 Stars is an interactive visualization of the stellar neighborhood showing the location of 119,617 nearby stars.
- ANISE - ANISE provides a toolkit and files for Attitude, Navigation, Instrument, Spacecraft, and Ephemeris data. It's a modern replacement of the NAIF SPICE toolkit.
- Celestia - Free real-time 3D visualization of space. (See also Celestia Motherlode for many add-ons.)
- Cesium.js - An open-source JavaScript library for world-class 3D globes and maps
- Cosmic Timeline - Interactive journey through the history of the universe, from the Planck epoch to today, with the physical values at each instant computed from the Planck 2018 cosmological model.
- Gaia Sky - Real-time, 3D, astronomy visualization software developed in the framework of ESA's Gaia mission. Runs on Windows, Linux and macOS.
- Harmony of the Spheres - Newtonian gravity and space simulator that runs in your browser
- KStars - KStars is free, open source, cross-platform astronomy software. It provides many features, including a graphical simulation of the night sky, observing planner, a sky calendar tool, an FOV editor, and more.
- LeoLabs Visualization - Low Earth Orbit Catalog Visualization.
- Mars Now - This visualization shows the current location and communication activity of all operating landers, rovers and orbiters at Mars that transmit data to Earth via NASA’s Mars Relay Network.
- NASA Eyes - Immersible apps to explore the Earth and solar system
- Orb Viewer - Visualization of all the asteroids in the MPC database.
- Orbit Simulator - A powerful numerical integration tool. "By performing n-body simulations, you can study the orbits of planets, moons, asteroids, or any object in the universe."
- Orbiter 2016 - Open source spaceflight simulator with many addons for historical missions. Installation Instructions.
- Overhead - A browser-based real-time night sky map and interactive 3D rocket explorer (Saturn V, Artemis II, Falcon 9), part of a combined astronautics/aviation tracking site.
- Solar Wanderer - A 1:1 real-time, browser-based solar system explorer using NASA JPL ephemerides. Seamless landing from orbit to walking on the surface, ray-marched atmospheres, and coverage out to the Oort Cloud. (source)
- SpaceEngine : Realistic universe simulator and planetarium. Old versions are free.
- Stellarium - Open source planetarium for your computer
SDKs & Software Development Tools
- ASCL.net - A free online registry for source code of interest to astronomers and astrophysicists
- AstroKit - A web-based toolset for performing lightcurve photometry
- astrometry.net - Code and an API for generating astrometric calibration meta-data
- AstroPy - Collection of software packages written in Python and designed for use in astronomy
- Rebound - A multi-purpose N-body integrator
- Skyfield - Skyfield computes positions for the stars, planets, and satellites in orbit around the Earth.
- Spacekit.js - An open-source library for building interactive Javascript- and WebGL-based space visualizations.
Community
Learning Materials
- Awesome Assured Autonomy - Curated research, tools, benchmarks, standards, and open-source systems for assuring autonomous systems.
- Awesome Space Autonomy - Curated research, flight demonstrations, software, tools, and guidance for autonomous spacecraft and space robots.
- NewSpace Startup Legal Guide – A guide tailored for space industry startups. It covers licensing of space activities, public-private partnerships in space, legal intricacies of launching payloads, space risk insurance, etc.
- NITARP - NITARP, the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program, gets teachers & students involved in authentic astronomical research.
- RDFvocab - A collection of linked data ontologies (semantically linked representations) that describe astronomical and space engineering concepts. Can be used to link popular data sets like DBPedia.
- Resources and references on the topic of space exploration - StackExchange list of books, manuals, courses, and more.
- Space Jargon Cheatsheet – list of space-related terms and jargon
Space Hackathons and Challenges
- ActInSpace - A hackathon about space app, every even year, launched by the french CNES.
- Space Apps Challenge - NASA-led initiative organized in collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton, Mindgrub and SecondMuse.
Working Groups
- Open Source Satellite - Ecosystem for sharing ideas and creating a "highly capable, flexible and affordable open source microsatellite platform." Founded by "a team of international space experts" dedicated to open source.
Data
Analytics & Visualization
- obdh.space - An interactive, all-in-one space data platform with charts and live statistics about satellites, launches and more, updated every day.
- Orbit Codex - An open browser-based directory of 14,000+ spaceflight entities (satellites, launches, agencies, astronauts, landing sites, missions) paired with a CesiumJS 3D viewer. Aggregates The Space Devs, JPL Horizons, CelesTrak, Space-Track, and ESA DISCOS into a single interactive interface.
- Satcat.com - Satcat is a web application by Kayhan Space that provides search, visualizations, and orbital design tools
Astronomy Data