satnogs-mcp

An MCP server that gives Claude (and other MCP clients) full access to the SatNOGS open satellite observation network — the world's largest open-source ground-station network for amateur satellites.

MCP Tools

SatNOGS DB (satellite catalogue)

SatNOGS Network (ground stations & observations)

Installation

pip install satnogs-mcp

Or run without installing via uvx:

uvx satnogs-mcp

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "satnogs": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["satnogs-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SATNOGS_DB_API_KEY": "optional-key-here",
        "REDIS_URL": "redis://localhost:6379"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config file location:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Environment Variables

Copy .env.example to .env and fill in any values you need:

cp .env.example .env

Example Prompts

Try these prompts in Claude once the server is running:

• "Search for active cubesats launched by universities."
• "What are the current TLEs for ISS (NORAD 25544)?"
• "Show me all FM transmitters for the FUNcube-1 satellite."
• "Find SatNOGS ground stations within 200 km of London."
• "List recent good observations of NORAD 39444."
• "What ground stations are online in Europe?"
• "Show me the waterfall image from observation 12345."
• "What telemetry has been collected for FUNCUBE-1 this week?"

Development

git clone https://github.com/atlas/satnogs-mcp
cd satnogs-mcp
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest tests/ -v

Architecture

• cache.py — Dual-tier cache: Redis primary (when REDIS_URL is set), in-memory TTL dict fallback
• client.py — HTTP clients for DB and Network APIs with sliding-window rate limiter (20 req/min, 200 req/hour) and exponential back-off on HTTP 429
• server.py — FastMCP server with @mcp.tool() decorated tools; module-level singleton clients share sessions and rate-limiter state

License

MIT