[Feature]: Live Space Weather Telemetry Gauges & Atmospheric Drag Perturbation Estimator

[teja-311]

Problem or use case

Currently, the /space-weather dashboard page relies on static mock metrics for space weather data, and there is no tool to estimate how solar activity and geomagnetic storms impact satellite orbital decay rates.

Satellite operators and SSA planners need real-time visibility into thermospheric air density variations ($\rho$) and an interactive tool to estimate how space weather alters aerodynamic drag ($F_d = \frac{1}{2} \rho v^2 C_d A$) and daily altitude loss ($\frac{da}{dt}$ in km/day) for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.

Proposed solution

We propose implementing live space weather telemetry gauges connected to the NASA DONKI / NOAA APIs along with a physics-based Atmospheric Drag & Orbital Decay Estimator:

1. Backend Physics Calculation Engine (backend/services/weather_service.py):

   • Calculate thermospheric air density $\rho(h, K_p)$ as a function of orbital altitude ($h$) and geomagnetic storm index ($K_p$).
   • Compute orbital velocity, aerodynamic drag acceleration, daily altitude decay rate ($\frac{da}{dt}$ in km/day), and risk levels (NOMINAL, ELEVATED, HIGH, SEVERE).

2. Backend API Endpoint (/api/v1/weather/drag-estimator):

   • Expose an endpoint accepting satellite altitude_km, mass_kg, area_m2, drag_coefficient ($C_d$), and kp_index.

3. Frontend Telemetry & Drag Estimator Widget (frontend/src/components/space-weather/DragEstimatorWidget.tsx):

   • Connect SpaceWeather.tsx to live backend API telemetry (/api/v1/weather/status and /api/v1/weather/all).
   • Add an interactive Drag Estimator UI card with sliders for Satellite Altitude, Mass, Area, and $C_d$ for real-time decay rate analysis.

I am actively working on implementing this feature and would like to submit a Pull Request!

Alternatives considered

No response

Expected behavior

Operators can view live space weather alerts (Kp index, solar flares, CMEs) on the /space-weather dashboard and use an interactive Atmospheric Drag & Orbital Decay Estimator tool to input satellite altitude, mass, area, and drag coefficient to calculate real-time daily altitude loss (km/day) and drag risk severity.

Platform

Website

Screenshots or mockups

No response

Difficulty

None

Priority

None

Additional information

No response

[teja-311]

@7-Blocks Could you please assign this issue to me for EcSoC26

[krishkhinchi]

@teja-311, you can start working on this. Please attach screenshots of the updates/changes along with your PR. Thanks!