Today, we are thrilled to announce the launching of the newly-redesigned and updated SatNOGS DB. We have put a lot of hard work into it and we are thrilled to present it to you.
A New UI for SatNOGS DB
The brand new SatNOGS DB focuses on providing an improved experience to users. It has a clearer and more efficient design, a more user-friendly interface and a more efficient and functional DB.
To start with, the design of the welcoming page has changed featuring three main fields. The first field is the New Satellites field. It contains the names of the latest satellite entries. The second field is the Latest Data and lists the names of the satellites receiving the latest data. The third field is the Recent Contributors field. It features the long list of the names of the contributors collecting data in the last 24 hours. Perched next to the names is the number of data frames they have contributed to the SatNOGS DB.
As with the old DB, the new SatNOGS DB sports an “All Satellites” tab from which you can navigate and scroll through the long list of satellites (400+) tracked by the network. A new feature added is the ability to see the status of a satellite. What is more, there is a recently-added “All Transmitters” tab listing all the transmitters (900+) in the network. This is a separate and distinct tab, under the “All Satellites” tab on the left of the screen.
For each satellite, there are dedicated views with additional information for the mission and its operational status.
There is also a Statistics tab. By clicking on it you can land on a page offering you a more spherical view of the numbers making up SatNOGS. Indicating the number of satellites, transmitters, data frames, frequency bands and modes of transmission.
From a technical point of view, the DB is built based on the Django Python framework. You can find the code here and if you have any suggestions or ideas on how we can further improve SatNOGS DB feel free to create an issue! We would love to read your suggestions!
The work of SatNOGS DB redesign was headed by our core contributor Corey Shields, with additional work from Julien Flawinne and Pierros Papadeas.
Future Work
SatNOGS DB has exciting new things in the pipeline, which are currently under development. Integration with Metasat Schema, Orbital Data tab per satellite with extended view and analysis, more satellite attributes and information, additional artifacts from observations, are just some of the new features coming soon!
About the SatNOGS DB
SatNOGS DB is an integral part of the SatNOGS project counting over 360+ satellite ground stations worldwide. It is an open-source, participatory initiative, fueled by the contributions and efforts of its devoted and diverse community of space enthusiasts, radio amateurs and satellite observers. SatNOGS DB is an attempt to create and maintain an up-to-date global Database of all artificial objects in space (of satellites and spacecrafts too). It is machine-readable and open to everyone who needs to have access to the data obtained. You can even connect your application to it using the available API.
This crowd-sourced, open-development and fully-transparent approach we apply to the SatNOGS project is a great example of how we operate and manage projects at the Libre Space Foundation. Everything we do adheres to the beliefs and the principles fueled by the Libre Space Manifesto. You can find out more about the Libre Space Manifesto and its principles and you can even show your support if you agree with it.
Care to join us?
If you have been intrigued by what you have read so far, have in mind that you can always join the SatNOGS project. Whether you are a space enthusiast wishing to build a SatNOGS ground station or you are fluent in Python and/or JS and you wish to contribute to the SaNOGS-DB web application. Everyone is welcome and you can start by reading how you can Get started with SatNOGS. You are also more than welcome to join our community forums and our riot/matrix channels. Reach out to us and be part of our community. We would love to hear from you!
