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Spacecraft

Satellites, Software, Ground Stations, Mission Control & Design, Simulation, Hardware, GNSS Receivers, Radios, Star Trackers, and More.

Full Satellites​

  • Quetzal-1 - Quetzal-1 was a 1U CubeSat developed by an engineering team from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG). Quetzal-1 operated successfully in space for 211 days.

General Software​

Ground Stations​

  • FoxTelem - FoxTelem is used by a network of ground stations to retrieve the telemetry and experiment data from the Fox Satellites.
  • GRID - Commercial network of satellite groundstations with simple to use Python SDK.
  • Open Satellite Project - Ongoing effort to develop open-source software for the receipt and decoding of satellite data using software-defined radio (SDR) hardware
  • Phase 4 Ground - Open source digital broadband satellite and terrestrial radio systems, part of Open Research Institute
  • SatNOGS - A global network of satellite ground stations, designed as an open source participatory project
  • TinyGS - Open network of ground stations to receive and operate LoRa satellites using cheap and versatile modules

Mission Control​

  • COSMOS - Open source mission control and satellite test & development framework
  • Open MCT - Ames's next-generation mission control framework for visualization of data on desktop and mobile devices.
  • Yamcs - Open source mission control framework (works also as backend for OpenMCT).

Mission Design​

  • Delta V calculator for LEO/MEO/GEO injection
  • Flight Club - Orbital launch simulator and trajectory visualisation software
  • FreeFlyer - A software application for space mission design, analysis, and operations.
  • GMAT - The General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) is a space trajectory optimization and mission analysis system (NASA)
  • GO by ienai SPACE - A software tool which allows for general design and optimization of missions with electric propulsion systems.
  • NASA Ames Research Center Trajectory Browser - A tool to find spacecraft trajectories to planets and small-bodies
  • Nyx - Nyx is a high fidelity astrodynamics toolkit for mission design and orbit determination in Rust and Python, used on several lunar missions.
  • Open Space Toolkit - Collection of versatile software libraries for space engineering applications (e.g., environment modeling, orbit and access computation).
  • poliastro - Poliastro is an open source pure Python package dedicated to problems arising in Astrodynamics and Orbital Mechanics. Focuses on interplanetary design.
  • SPICE - Ephemerides library used by JPL for their missions. SpiceyPy is a Python wrapper.
  • SpOCK - The Spacecraft Orbital Computations Kit is an open source tool for spacecraft mission analysis and simulation.
  • Systems Tool Kit (STK) - Simulate missions and create reports, graphs, and 3D animations (paid). From Analytical Graphics, Inc.

Simulation​

  • 42 - Attitude and trajectory simulation of Spacecraft (NASA)
  • Basilisk - C/C++ astrodynamics and attitude control simulation (includes Python scripting).
  • Gazebo - Robotics simulator often used for planetary rovers
  • LunCo – An open-source full-cycle Lunar Colony & space operations sim tool for engineers and enthusiasts
  • NOS3 - NASA Operational Simulator for Small Satellites
  • Trick - End-to-end physics simulation package, useful for simulating missions (but requires orbital dynamics models). C, C++, with Python (SWIG) interface.

Spacecraft Hardware​

  • FossaSat-1 - Hardware designs and software for the FossaSat-1 Pocketqube satellite (GitHub)
  • NASA Outgassing Db - A dataset of materials intended for spacecraft use from the Goddard Space Flight Center, the Stanford Research Institute, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  • Open Source Rover - The JPL Open Source Rover is an open source, build it yourself, scaled down version of the 6 wheel rover design that JPL uses to explore the surface of Mars.
  • Oresat - An open source cubesat developed at Oregon Small Satellite Project.
  • ProjectInertia - An open source hardware platform to achieve a FRAM-based radiation-tolerant microcontroller for space application. The firmware is being developed in Rust.
  • PyCubed - An Open-Source, Radiation-Tested CubeSat Framework Programmable Entirely in Python.
  • Qubik - Open source software and hardware pocketqube satellite
  • Radiation Test Database - Radiation test results for many components.
  • SatSearch, CubeSatShop - Search engines for satellite parts and their datasheets
  • The AMSAT CubeSat Simulator Project - a low cost satellite emulator that runs on solar panels and batteries, transmits UHF radio telemetry, has a 3D printed frame, and can be extended by additional sensors and modules.
  • UPSat - Open source satellite software and hardware

Spacecraft Software​

  • cFS Basecamp - Provides a lightweight environment to help you learn NASA’s cFS and create app-based solutions for your projects. The built-in hands-on tutorials shorten the path to productivity.
  • Core Flight System - NASA portable and extendable flight software framework with extensive flight heritage and a growing suite of applications and platform ports
  • FossaSat-1 - Hardware designs and software for the FossaSat-1 Pocketqube satellite (GitHub)
  • NASA JPL F Prime - NASA JPL F Prime (Fʹ) is a component-driven framework that enables rapid development and deployment of spaceflight and other embedded software applications, originally developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  • KubOS - An open-source flight software framework for satellites
  • LibreCube - Open source space and Earth exploration. Defining a generic architecture of system of systems that have standardized interfaces makes it possible to combine and reuse elements for various applications
  • Linux4Space - Open source Yocto based Linux distribution suitable for space applications
  • NanoSat MO Framework - A software framework for nanosatellites based on the latest CCSDS standards. Developed by ESA and used in OPS-SAT mission (GitHub)
  • OpenSatKit - A complete Core Flight System training and application development environment that includes COSMOS and 42
  • SatCat5 - A mixed-media Ethernet switch for connecting smallsat payloads
  • UPSat - Open source satellite software and hardware

GNSS Receivers​

  • libswiftnav and libsbp (Swift binary protocol for communicating with receiver hardware)

Radios​

  • LFR transceiver - Little Free Radio (LFR) is an open source, command, telemetry, and data radio for cubesats.
  • OpenLST transceiver hardware and firmware - OpenLST is an open source, proven radio design for communicating with remote instruments, vehicles, and stations using low-cost commercial components. Based on Planet Labs' telemetry/command radio.

Star Trackers​

Legacy​

  • Apollo 11 Guidance Code - Original Apollo 11 Guidance Computer (AGC) source code for the command and lunar modules
  • Virtual AGC - A virtual machine which simulates the Apollo Guidance Computer, the DSKY, and some other portions of the guidance system.

Tracking & Orbit Determination​

  • AstriaGraph - Open source data and visualization of all known objects in Earth’s orbit
  • Astro::Coord::ECI::TLE - Perl implementation of NORAD progation models
  • Gpredict - Open source, real-time satellite tracking and orbit prediction application.
  • jspredict - A Javascript port of the popular predict satellite tracking library.
  • KeepTrack - Open-source TypeScript and WebGl app for visualizing satellites, radars, telescopes, missiles, and breakups.
  • Orb Calc - Generate positions of objects from orbital parameters.
  • Orbit Determination Tool Kit (ODTK) - Processes traditional and non-traditional measurements using a sequential filter & matched smoother to generate orbits with realistic covariance (paid). From Analytical Graphics, Inc.
  • Orbital Object Toolkit - TypeScript port of python-sgp4 plus additional features for working with TLEs, satellites, and sensors.
  • Orekit - An accurate and efficient core layer for space flight dynamics applications written in Java.
  • perturb - A modern C++ library for SGP4 orbit propagation of TLEs
  • Predict - PHP implementation of the SGP4 and SDP4 models for prediction, based on Gpredict
  • python-sgp4 - Python implementation of most recent version of the SGP4 satellite tracking algorithm
  • satellite.js - A library to make satellite propagation via TLEs possible on the web. Provides the functions necessary for SGP4/SDP4 calculations, as callable javascript. Also provides functions for coordinate transforms.
  • Space-Track.org - Programmatic access to Two-Line Elements, Orbital Mean-Elements, satellite catalog information, space debris, and more.
  • Where the ISS at? - Real time tracking of the International Space Station, with email push notifications for upcoming passes and a REST API for integrations. Based on Predict