Artemis Tracker

Real-time mission tracker for NASA's Artemis program. Currently tracking Artemis II — the first crewed lunar flyby in over 50 years.

Built with vanilla JS, Three.js for 3D visualization, and 7 NASA APIs providing live mission data.

Live Data Sources

Source	Data	Update Frequency
JPL Horizons	Spacecraft position, velocity, trajectory, RA/DEC, constellation	5 min
DSN Now	Which antennas are communicating with Orion (EM2), signal bands, data rate, range	60 sec
DONKI	Solar flares, geomagnetic storms, CMEs, radiation belt enhancements, interplanetary shocks	10 min
EPIC	Real photos of Earth from 1.5M km (DSCOVR satellite at L1)	10 min
APOD	NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day	10 min
NeoWs	Near-Earth objects, hazardous asteroids, Sentry-monitored objects	10 min
NASA Images	Official Artemis II mission photos	10 min

Features

Trajectory

• 3D visualization (Three.js) with real NASA textures for Earth and Moon
• 2D canvas fallback when WebGL is unavailable
• Real trajectory data from JPL Horizons (~214 position points)
• Full Moon orbital path showing where the flyby will occur
• Coordinate rotation so Earth-Moon axis is horizontal
• Zoom (scroll/pinch), pan (drag), and orbit controls
• TLI marker, flyby point, traveled vs predicted path

Telemetry

• Distance to Earth and Moon (3D, center-to-center)
• Velocity and radial velocity
• Right Ascension / Declination (celestial coordinates)
• Constellation, light-time delay, solar distance
• Interpolated between real JPL data points for smooth updates

Deep Space Network

• Live world map showing Goldstone, Madrid, and Canberra stations
• Animated signal arcs when antennas are tracking Orion (EM2)
• Per-dish details: azimuth, elevation, band (S/X/Ka), data rate, power
• Range and round-trip light time

Space Weather

• Radiation risk gauge for crew safety (combines DONKI data with Orion position)
• Solar flares by class (X/M/C) with timeline overlay on mission
• Geomagnetic storms with Kp index
• Radiation belt enhancements and interplanetary shocks
• Space weather vs mission timeline chart

Mission Data

• Exact timeline from JPL Horizons ephemeris (13 events with MET times)
• Crew info with historical firsts
• CubeSat status (ATENEA, TACHELES, K-RadCube, Space Weather CubeSat-1)
• Vehicle specs (SLS Block 1, Orion MPCV "Integrity", ESM)
• NASA TV live streams + Orion camera feed
• NEO proximity radar
• Official photo gallery

Mobile

• Responsive layout for iPhone 16 (393x852)
• Touch zoom/pan on trajectory
• Safe-area support for notch
• PWA-ready meta tags

Setup

git clone https://github.com/GaltRanch/artemis-tracker.git
cd artemis-tracker
node server.js

Open http://localhost:20000

On first visit, the app will guide you to get a free NASA API key:

1. Go to api.nasa.gov
2. Sign up (free, 30 seconds)
3. Paste the key in the setup modal

Without a key, the app uses DEMO_KEY (limited to 30 requests/hour). With your own key: 1,000 requests/hour.

Alternatively, create a .env file:

NASA_API_KEY=your_key_here

Architecture

artemis-tracker/
├── server.js              # Node.js proxy server (Horizons, DSN, DONKI, EPIC, APOD, NeoWs, Images)
├── index.html             # Dashboard layout
├── css/style.css          # Dark theme, responsive
├── js/
│   ├── telemetry.js       # JPL Horizons telemetry engine
│   ├── trajectory.js      # 2D canvas trajectory (fallback)
│   ├── trajectory3d.js    # Three.js 3D trajectory (ES module)
│   ├── datasources.js     # DSN, DONKI, EPIC, APOD, NeoWs, Images
│   ├── widgets.js         # DSN map, radiation gauge, NEO radar, weather timeline
│   └── app.js             # Main app, renderers, API key setup
├── .env                   # NASA API key (not committed)
└── .gitignore

The Node.js server acts as a proxy to avoid CORS issues with NASA APIs. It includes:

• Request queue to avoid rate limiting (serialized with delays)
• Response cache (1 min for DSN, 3 min for Horizons, 30 min for DONKI/EPIC/Images)
• .env file support for API key persistence

Adapting for Future Missions

The tracker is designed to be reused for Artemis III, IV, V, etc. To switch missions:

1. Update MISSION config in js/app.js:

const MISSION = {
  name: 'Artemis III',
  horizonsId: '-1025',  // JPL Horizons spacecraft ID
  launchDate: '2027-...',
  durationDays: 30,
  // ...
};

2. Update the timeline events in index.html
3. Update crew info and CubeSat data

JPL Horizons assigns unique IDs to each spacecraft. The trajectory, telemetry, and 3D visualization will automatically use the new mission data.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Modern browser with ES module support
• WebGL for 3D trajectory (falls back to 2D canvas)

Credits

• Trajectory and telemetry data: NASA/JPL Horizons
• Deep Space Network: DSN Now
• Space weather: NASA DONKI
• Earth imagery: NASA EPIC/DSCOVR
• Earth/Moon textures: Solar System Scope
• 3D engine: Three.js

License

MIT License. See LICENSE.

NASA data and images are public domain. Not an official NASA product.