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Really cool! I've been meaning to implement SGP4 from scratch as a learning exercise. What I found really interesting is how the USAF/NORAD tracks and reports
by devbug 6y ago
Really cool!
I've been meaning to implement SGP4 from scratch as a learning exercise. What I found really interesting is how the USAF/NORAD tracks and reports objects in LEO: they publish Two-line Element Sets (TLEs), which are a fixed-width ASCII format derived from punch cards.[1] The format is pretty easy to parse.[2]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-line_element_set https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-line_element_set
[2]: https://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/documentation/tle-fmt.php https://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/documentation/tle-fmt.php
[3]: https://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/documentation/checksum.php https://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/documentation/checksum.php
- jcims 6y agoJust want to give props to the skyfield python library. I have no idea what any of the numbers in the TLE mean but just by following some examples have been able to plot the location of Starlink satellites vs time very easily. https://rhodesmill.org/skyfield/ https://rhodesmill.org/skyfield/ I’m feeding it into Graphana to help visualize how satellite coverage impacts the signal strength and network performance of my dish. It’s pretty fun.
- gpm 6y agoWhile we're listing libraries, I was super impressed with satellite.js for the same reasons https://github.com/shashwatak/satellite-js https://github.com/shashwatak/satellite-js I used it to make https://droid.cafe/starlink https://droid.cafe/starlink
- jcims 6y agoYes!!! I used that as well and couldn’t temember the name.