Orbital — Real-Time Satellite & Space Debris Tracker

A 3D web application that tracks the International Space Station, Starlink constellation, active satellites, and space debris in real-time on an interactive globe.

Features

• Real-Time ISS Tracking — Live position with orbit trail
• Starlink Constellation — All 5,000+ satellites rendered as a swarm
• Space Debris Layer — 30,000+ tracked debris pieces (spent rockets, dead satellites)
• Orbit Trails — Fading path showing last 90 minutes of orbit
• Pass Predictor — Click your location to see when satellites will fly overhead
• Collision Awareness — Visualize how crowded Earth's orbit really is
• Dark Space Aesthetic — NASA Black Marble Earth, glowing orbit lines, atmospheric halo

Data Sources

• Celestrak — TLE (orbit) data for 20,000+ objects
• N2YO — Real-time satellite positions
• satellite.js — Orbit propagation (client-side)

Tech Stack

• Vite + vanilla JS (no React/Tailwind)
• globe.gl — 3D WebGL globe
• satellite.js — SGP4 orbit propagation
• Hand-written CSS, Inter font, dark space theme

Getting Started

npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000.

The app fetches TLE data from Celestrak on startup and propagates orbits client-side using SGP4. No API keys needed.

Build

npm run build

Output goes to dist/.

Deploy

GitHub Pages

1. Push this repo to GitHub
2. Go to Settings → Pages
3. Set Source to "GitHub Actions"
4. The included workflow auto-deploys

Netlify Drop

Drag the dist/ folder to netlify.com/drop.

License

MIT