ISS(International Space Station) Tracker

Introduction

The International Space Station (ISS) is the most expensive object ever built by humans. It orbits Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 400 km. On a clear night—most often in summer—you can even spot it in the sky with the naked eye.

NASA publicly shares the ISS’s real-time location and even provides a free API to access this data. Interestingly, the ISS also has a radio repeater that lets us communicate with others when it passes overhead. If you’re lucky, you might even get a reply from the astronauts themselves—provided they’re on the radio at that time!

That’s why I decided to build a unique system that can notify me whenever the ISS passes over my location.

1. ESP8266 NodeMCU
2. Green LED x 1
3. Red LED x 7
4. Buzzer x 1
5. 220 Ω resistor x 8
6. Perf board
7. Female header pins

Begin by soldering the female header pins onto the perf board. These will allow you to easily mount the ESP8266 board.

Next, solder the LEDs, resistors, and buzzer onto the perf board according to the provided wiring diagram.

Download the code file and update the following variables with your own details:

1. `ssid` - Your Wi-Fi name
2. `password` - Your Wi-Fi password
3. `myLongitude` - Longitude of your location
4. `myLatitude` - Latitude of your location

Once updated, upload the code to the ESP8266 board.

When you power the ESP8266:

1. The first LED will blink, indicating it is connecting to Wi-Fi.
2. Once connected, the blinking will stop.
3. The LEDs will then start showing the distance of the ISS relative to your location.

Conclusion

This project makes spotting the ISS exciting and interactive. Not only do you get notified when it’s nearby, but you also gain a deeper appreciation for this incredible feat of human engineering.

I hope you enjoyed building this project and learned something new along the way. If you did, don’t forget to leave a like and follow me for more interesting projects.

Thanks for visiting—and I’ll see you in the next one!