Install gpredict
, either from PureOS store or with sudo apt install gpredict
in terminal.
Edit Menu > Update TLE Data From Network > Update Transponder Data (Edit: I’m only guessing that this is necessary.)
Edit Menu > Preferences > Modules > Layout (and other desired options)
File Menu > New Module > Create name, e.g. 48275
(NORAD ID of decaying Chinese booster)
Satellites > Search “48275” > Add “CA-5B R/B” > Click OK
Tracking position of Chinese rocket booster in real time (while it’s still up there, at least):
And as a reminder, this also works on the Librem 5, and presumably on the Pinephone. (Needs scaling down a bit.)
I’m not sure why the position doesn’t show on the map at the moment. It’s now missing on my laptop screen, too… And I don’t think the debris has fallen yet! (Edit: Possibly have to add a different ground station…? Default is Copenhagen.)
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I think it is down. Fallen into Indian ocean. Must have been around 4 o’clock am today. At least that’s what the news from yesterday evening told about prognosis of experts. So you seem to saw it disappear. Congrats
It would be so cool if I could have shown this live on my Linux phone to my family.
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Purism should make a Librem Satellite. Then we can turn around the surveillance and track “them” by satellite. And who knows, maybe we can find the location of some CPUs this way.
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Actually, the icon disappeared from my screens several hours before it impacted. I noticed at one point that “Visibility” had changed to “Eclipsed,”, so maybe it was out of view of the tracking station. In any case, this is a pretty cool application.
I was trying to improvise and quickly learn how to use it to track a particular object, so it could be that I missed something.
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China has several more launches scheduled in the coming months. Maybe you’ll have the chance to track another uncontrolled reentry!
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I’ve read that, took but only a minority of the launches for the Chinese space station will be with this big rocket with uncontrolled reentry.
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