About Interstellar Tools
We choose to go to the Moon... We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.
Engineering the next spacefaring stack
TypeScript monorepo for open, reliable building blocks in orbital mechanics and space software. Equations, constants, time utilities, and strong types for simulation, visualization, mission tooling, and teaching.
Status
Project status: Stable (1.0)
- API surface: stable. Breaking changes only come in a major release, and deprecated APIs keep working for one full major; see how versions work.
- Validation: unit tests in place; not yet cross-validated against flight-grade references.
- Runtime targets: Node 22.9+, modern browsers with ESM bundlers (Vite, Webpack, etc.).
Why this exists
We're entering a new era where space is becoming a mainstream software domain: conference programs increasingly feature space + IT topics, and teams across science, education, and industry need trustworthy, well-typed primitives. @interstellar-tools is an open-source, TypeScript-first toolkit created to accelerate that shift: precise functions, clear docs, and strong types that make orbital and mission software easier to build and easier to verify.
Sustainable Development Goals
Space is part of how the world works towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, from satellite data for food security and water management to connectivity for remote communities. The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs tracks this work in Space for the SDGs.
Interstellar Tools doesn't advance the goals on its own, but it supports three of them directly:
- Goal 4: Quality education, target 4.4: increase the number of youth and adults with relevant technical skills for employment. Interstellar Tools offers free, typed and tested orbital mechanics with the formula written out next to every function, for teaching and self-study. The MCP server lets learners explore it with an AI assistant.
- Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, targets 9.5 and 9.b: enhance scientific research and technological capabilities, and support technology development in developing countries. Open, reusable building blocks lower the cost of starting in space software, for teams and countries without an established space industry.
- Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals, target 17.6: enhance international cooperation on, and access to, science and technology, and knowledge sharing. The project is MIT-licensed, developed in the open, open to contributions from anyone, and usable from any AI assistant through an open protocol.
Packages
| Package | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
@interstellar-tools/constants | Physical & astronomical constants in SI units. | Alpha |
@interstellar-tools/equations | Orbital mechanics & dynamics utilities. | Alpha |
@interstellar-tools/mcp | MCP server for AI assistants. | WIP |
@interstellar-tools/temporal | Time/epoch helpers for space applications. | WIP |
@interstellar-tools/types | Shared TypeScript types (vectors, results, etc.). | Alpha |
Details
@interstellar-tools/constants Authoritative physical and astronomical constants in SI units for consistent calculations.
@interstellar-tools/equations Curated, well-tested orbital mechanics and dynamics formulas (e.g., Newtonian gravity, vis-viva, Kepler's 3rd law, escape/circular speeds, specific energy, specific angular momentum, peri/apoapsis radii).
Validation status
Equations are unit-tested against internal reference values, but have not yet been systematically cross-validated against operational flight software or high-fidelity ephemerides. Treat this as a learning and prototyping toolkit, not as mission-critical software (yet).
@interstellar-tools/temporal Time and epoch utilities for space applications (e.g., building blocks toward Julian dates, conversions, and ephemeris-friendly time handling).
@interstellar-tools/types Shared TypeScript types (e.g., 3D tuples, equation result interfaces) used across the monorepo to keep APIs predictable and safe.
Who is this for?
- Engineers building space-related web or Node tools (simulators, visualizers, mission dashboards).
- Educators who want typed, reusable examples of orbital mechanics in TypeScript.
- Hackers and students exploring orbital mechanics through code.
Not a good fit (for now) if you need:
- Flight-certified or safety-critical software.
- High-fidelity N-body or perturbation modeling.
Design principles
- Correctness first. Equations are implemented with explicit units, domain checks, and guardrails for common numerical pitfalls.
- TS-first ergonomics. Strong, reusable types; tuple-based vectors; predictable return shapes.
- SI everywhere. All APIs are documented and validated assuming SI units by default.
- Readable math. JSDoc uses KaTeX for exact definitions and invariants right where you need them.
- No surprises. Prefer simple, auditable implementations over cleverness; bias toward dependency-light code.
Vision & scope
The long-term vision is an open, trustworthy foundation for:
- Simulation & guidance: two-body dynamics building blocks and beyond.
- Visualization & mapping: ephemeris-friendly primitives and safe transforms.
- Education: approachable formulas with clear units, references, and examples.
- Interoperability: shared types/constants across packages and apps.
Initial focus is on core equations, constants, and types with clear documentation and tests, then growing into time systems, frames/transforms, and higher-level propagation & solving utilities.
Governance & values
This project aims to be:
- Open: free to use, adapt, and extend under MIT.
- Inclusive: welcoming to newcomers and experts alike.
- Practical: focused on real-world reliability and clarity over spectacle.
- Private: no personal data is collected by the packages, the MCP server or this site. See the privacy statement.
- Safe: contributors are protected by the Code of Conduct, and vulnerabilities are handled through the security policy.
Interstellar Tools is created and maintained by Alexander Vassbotn Røyne-Helgesen, who holds the copyright to it under the MIT License.
How decisions are made and who does what is described in the governance, and where the project is heading in the roadmap.
Security and supply chain
The project follows the OpenSSF Best Practices criteria, at the passing level and OpenSSF Baseline level 2, and is scored by the OpenSSF Scorecard. In practice, that means:
- Signed releases. Every package is built and published from GitHub Actions with signed provenance, verifiable with
npm audit signatures, and every release comes with a software bill of materials. - Checked changes. Every pull request is built, linted, type-checked, tested, scanned by CodeQL, checked for vulnerable dependencies, and signed off under the Developer Certificate of Origin before it can be merged.
- Documented policies. How vulnerabilities are reported and fixed, how dependencies and secrets are handled, and why the security expectations hold are in the security policy and the assurance case.
A note from the author
I built @interstellar-tools to help catalyse the space+software wave I'm seeing in our industry-by doing the thing I do best: shipping precise, well-documented building blocks. If that resonates with you, I'd love your feedback and contributions.
Contributing
Contributions are very welcome-issues, ideas, bug reports, docs fixes, and new equations/utilities.
- Read the CONTRIBUTING.md and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md before opening a PR.
- Please use conventional commit messages (the repo embraces SemVer and contributor-friendly workflows).
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
Sponsor me
I'm an Open Source evangelist, creating stuff that does not exist yet to help get rid of secondary activities and to enhance systems already in place, be it documentation, tools or web sites.
The sponsorship is an unique opportunity to alleviate more hours for me to maintain my projects, create new ones and contribute to the large community we're all part of 😃
Support me on GitHub Sponsors.
p.s. Ukraine is still under brutal Russian invasion. A lot of Ukrainian people are hurt, without shelter and need help. You can help in various ways, for instance, directly helping refugees, spreading awareness, putting pressure on your local government or companies. You can also support Ukraine by donating e.g. to Red Cross, Ukraine humanitarian organisation or donate Ambulances for Ukraine.