Track the Space Station in 3D
NASA Space Apps Challenge 2022, tracking the space station in 3D in real time.
NASA Space Apps Challenge
A 48-hour hackathon uniting global teams to tackle challenges set by NASA.
The Challenge
Create a web app that tracks the International Space Station (ISS) in three dimensions. Unlike other online apps, the app will be open-source, meaning its code is freely available for anyone to use and modify.
The Achievement
*for more details on trackISS, check out the writeup.
Within 48 hours, our team created "TrackISS," an open-source web app that visually tracks the ISS in 3D in real-time. The backend uses static TLE data from Celestrak, and the frontend employs NASA WorldWind for rendering. Winning $300 + goodies for the team.
Reflections
In hindsight, we should've put TLE data directly in the frontend. This would've made the app more performant and easier to deploy. I also later found out the TLE data changes once in a while. So I could've made a simple api using Cloudflare workers or find a free api that provides the TLE data.