Does your Twitter feed not have enough space in it?

Introducing Space Bot

A new twitter bot dedicated to all things space.

What Space Bot Does So Far

Plots ground tracks for random objects in space

Shows the two objects likeliest to collied that day, as well as when their closest approach will be.

Note: Just because the objects are the likeliest to collide, does not mean a collision is either imminent or likely. Space is big and these objects are often very small and stay far away from each other.

What SpaceBot Can’t Do

Open the pod bay doors

What I May Implement in the Future

When the next space launch is

People currently in space

CR3BP Trajectories

NASA imagery – that’s not Nasa Image of the Day

Current weather on mars

etc…

Note: If you have a good idea for what I should implement into SpaceBot let me know in the comments below!

Code

This bot is made up of 2 components. The python scripts which physically make up the bot (they get the TLE’s, make the plots, upload stuff to twitter) and the scheduling portion which is just a batch script. The satellite data for the ground track plots is gotten from space-track.org and the likeliest collisions is scrapped off of celestrak.com

The Pyhton scripts can be found here.

I will not be posting the batch script as it’s only three lines, most of it pathing.

What is a Ground Track?

A ground track is the path a spacecraft traces out if it was projected down onto the surface of the Earth. It helps satellite planners see where the spacecraft will be relative to the Earth surface which is extremely important if it’s a communication or imaging satellite.

Want More Gereshes?

If you want to receive new Gereshes blog post directly to your email when they come out, you can sign up for that here!

Don’t want another email? That’s ok, Gereshes also has a twitter account and subreddit!

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