Keeptrack.space NPM

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KeepTrack.Space

Astrodynamics Software for Non-Engineers

KeepTrack aims to provide orbital analysis tools to the average user. By providing features that are usually only found in expensive toolkits, we make learning about orbital mechanics and satellite operations accessible to everyone.

The code has been rewrote multiple times and now barely resembles the original, but none of this would have been possible without @jeyoder's original stuffin.space.

Installation

The last release of Version 2 is availble at https://keeptrack.space. If you just want to use the site, recommend using Version 2 since no new features are being added to Version 3 yet.

Starting with Version 3, a github page is automatically deployed with the most-current version of the main branch to https://thkruz.github.io/keeptrack.space/.

Built With

Prerequisites

As of version 3.0, KeepTrack.Space is built using ES6+ modules and assembled with Webpack. If you would like to install it you need to install git and npm.

Setting up Dev

Clone the github files.

git clone https://github.com/thkruz/keeptrack.space

Switch into the directory.

cd ./keeptrack.space/

Have npm install all the dependencies (including the development ones).

npm install

Copy all the static files into the ./dist directory.

npm run stage

Have webpack package the source, but not compress it for easier reading.

npm run build-dev

Usage

The main index.htm page loads a canvas element set to the size of the window that displays the earth, satellites, and stars. The UI is loaded in DOM elements on top of the canvas element. Two webworkers are loaded (satCruncher.js and orbit-calculation-worker.js) to handle constant calculation of satellite locations and updating orbit lines when an object is highlighted.

The main draw loop (main.js) has been optimized to reduce memory leaks and to keep FPS high. This is commonly done by having routines modify global variables vs returning a variable - this is definitely intentional.

Any modifications to a satellite require that information to be passed to the satCruncher webworker to ensure the UI calculations match the dot on the screen. Most calculations utilize a brute-force method of guess and check (lookangle times, missile trajectories, etc). Optimizing the loop for those calculations is criitcal to keeping the project responsive.

The project is meant to be run from a webserver and is tested on an apache2 server. There are php scripts for generating TLE.json that are not included, but http://keeptrack.space/TLE.json can be referenced for an up-to-date catalog using:

npm run updateTle

Versioning

We use SemVer for versioning.

How the Code Works

(As of 11/2020)

index.htm - Controls the structure of the front-end and loads all the CSS and JS files.
main.js - Primary JS files that controls the draw loop.
objectManager.js - Used for extracting details from TLE.json and loading additional objects from other files.
mapManager.js - My modified version of @juliuste's library for stereographic map projection.
orbitManager.js - Draws the orbit lines. Called from the main draw loop.
satSet.js - Most of the manipulation of the local satellite catalogue occurs here.
color-scheme.js - Handles the calculation of rgba colors for objects.
earth.js - Draws the earth and the atmosphere. Currently (bad!) responsible for updating time string timeManager references. Called from main.js
lookangles.js - My personal modifications to @shashwata's amazing library satellite.js.
timeManager/timeManager.js - Tracks internal time and controls time manipulation.
search-box.js - Functions for searching the catalog and manipulating the search drop-down.
sun-calc.js - @mourner's library used for star position calculations.
satCruncher.js - Web Worker that provides x, y, z coordinates of the satellites and if it is in a sensor's FOV.
orbit-calculation-worker.js - Web Worker that generates future orbits for satellites.
TLE.json - The main database on satellites.
controlSiteManager.js - Database of command and control locations.
launchSiteManager.js - Database of launch locations.
missileManager.js - ICBM/SLBM simulator.
sensorManager.js - Database of sensor locations.
starManager.js - Database of stars.
starManager-constellations.js - Add-on database of star constellations.

Tests

Currently we are still building tests in Jest that should cover 100% of the non-jquery functions. All of the current test can be run using:

npm run test

For testing the user interface we use gremlins.js. You can unleash the gremlins using db.gremlins() in your web browser's console. By default it runs for 1000 interactions or 10 errors.

Style Guide

We use Prettier and ESLint to enforce consistent readable code. Please refer to our contributing guide for more info on styling.

Contributors

License

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Full License