astrodynamics-mcp 0.1.0

Model Context Protocol server giving any LLM client authoritative astrodynamics tools — TLE/SGP4, Lambert, ground-station access, time/frame conversions, porkchop, B-plane.

astrodynamics-mcp

A Model Context Protocol server that gives any MCP-capable LLM client (Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT desktop, custom agents) authoritative astrodynamics tools: TLE/SGP4 propagation, Lambert solving, ground-station access, time-scale and coordinate-frame conversions, porkchop scans, B-plane targeting.

Why

LLMs reason well about astrodynamics concepts but cannot do the numerical work — they cannot propagate orbits, solve Lambert problems, or query SPICE ephemerides. astrodynamics-mcp lets you plug authoritative tools into any MCP-capable client so the LLM calls vetted upstream libraries instead of fabricating numbers. Every result carries explicit units; every tool description tunes against an Inspect AI eval suite that measures whether the LLM picks the right tool and binds the right arguments.

Tools

Tool	What it does	Backed by
tle_lookup	Fetch current TLEs from CelesTrak by NORAD ID, name, or group.	CelesTrak gp.php API
sgp4_propagate	Propagate TLEs across UTC ISO 8601 epochs in TEME / ICRF / GCRS / ITRS / CIRS.	sgp4
lambert_solve	Solve Lambert's problem; multi-rev solutions enumerated; two-impulse Δv on demand.	lamberthub
access_windows	Ground-station / observer access intervals over a window, with AOS / LOS / peak elevation.	skyfield
time_convert	UTC / TAI / TT / TDB / UT1 / GPS / TCB / TCG conversions across ISO / JD / MJD / J2000-seconds / Unix.	astropy.time
frame_transform	State-vector transforms across ICRF / ITRS / GCRS / TEME / CIRS / TIRS / IAU body-fixed frames.	astropy.coordinates
porkchop	(depart × arrive) Δv / C3 grid for interplanetary transfers, ASCII contour, summary or full output.	lamberthub + JPL Horizons
bplane_target	B-plane element calculation and impulsive targeting for hyperbolic flybys.	in-house, JPL Horizons fed

Full input / output JSON schemas live on the Tool reference page of the docs site.

Quick start

Install:

uv tool install astrodynamics-mcp     # or: pipx install astrodynamics-mcp

Claude Code

Add to your Claude Code MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "astrodynamics": {
      "command": "astrodynamics-mcp",
      "args": ["stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Code. In a chat:

You: Compute the Hohmann Δv from a 250 km circular LEO to GEO.

(The model calls lambert_solve with the Hohmann geometry and answers ≈ 3.91 km/s, citing the tool output — not the LLM's own weights.)

Cursor

~/.cursor/mcp.json (or workspace-level .cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "astrodynamics": {
      "command": "astrodynamics-mcp",
      "args": ["stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Cursor. The tools appear under the astrodynamics server group.

See Pick a client in the docs for ChatGPT desktop, a raw Python MCP smoke client, and the Streamable HTTP transport for remote agents.

Supported clients

Client	Transport	Verified
Claude Code	stdio	✅ Yes
Cursor	stdio	✅ Yes
ChatGPT desktop	stdio	⏳ Expected to work
Raw Python (mcp SDK)	stdio	✅ Yes
Remote agents	Streamable HTTP	⏳ Expected to work
LangGraph / AutoGen / CrewAI	any	⏳ Expected to work

What this is not

• Not a general-purpose astrodynamics framework. Wraps vetted upstream libraries; does not re-implement propagators, integrators, or coordinate systems.
• Not an agent framework. Exposes MCP tools; LangGraph, AutoGen, CrewAI, and the LLM clients themselves consume them.
• Not an ML / inference server. Tools that need their own ML models (maneuver detection, neural propagators) belong in separate MCP servers — kept modular for dependency isolation.
• Not a SaaS. Runs locally or in your own infrastructure. No hosted multi-tenant deployment.
• Not a web UI. Tool consumption is via MCP clients; no browser frontend, no desktop app, no notebook widget.

For direct (non-MCP) Python use of the same surfaces, reach for the upstream libraries: sgp4, lamberthub, skyfield, astropy, interplanetary-porkchop, spiceypy.

Built on

The official Anthropic modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk (MIT). The bundled FastMCP server class is the server primitive; stdio + Streamable HTTP transports are first-class.

Docs and links

• Docs site: astro-tools.github.io/astrodynamics-mcp — getting started, per-client setup, tool reference, recipes, data sources, eval suite, FAQ.
• Issue tracker: astro-tools/astrodynamics-mcp/issues
• Discussions: orgs/astro-tools/discussions — usage help and open-ended questions.
• Eval suite: eval/README.md — the regression contract on tool-description quality.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.