Heimdall – Real-Time Satellite Tracking Dashboard

TL;DR

TL;DR: Heimdall is a free real-time orbital tracking platform that visualizes over 27,000 objects in Earth orbit — satellites, debris, crewed stations — in an interactive 3D environment built by a four-person team.

Source and Accuracy Notes

⚠️ This section is MANDATORY. All links must be verified from actual source, not guessed.

• Project page: heimdallspace.com — verified by direct visit
• Live visualizer: heimdallspace.com/#live — confirmed operational
• Data sources: Space-Track.org, planet4589.org (J. McDowell catalog), NASA 3D Resources
• HN launch thread: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47166687
• License: Unable to verify — no public GitHub repository found at time of writing
• Source last checked: 2026-07-07

What Is Heimdall?

Heimdall is a real-time orbital intelligence platform that aggregates public satellite and debris data into a continuously updated 3D view. The name comes from Norse mythology — Heimdall is the watchman who sees across all nine worlds.

The project was born out of a practical problem: space is getting crowded fast. Active satellites have roughly tripled since 2020 (from ~3,000 to an estimated 9,000+ as of 2026), and the total tracked object count — including defunct satellites, rocket bodies, and debris — exceeds 27,000. That data lives across disconnected government and academic catalogs, difficult to access and tedious to cross-reference.

Heimdall’s team (Bruce Li, Thomas Spina, Kelvin Chen, Kevin Wong) built a unified ingest pipeline that pulls from multiple sources including Space-Track.org (US Space Command’s public catalog) and J. McDowell’s planet4589.org orbital data. The result is a free, account-free 3D visualizer that updates in near-real time.

What You Can Track

• Active satellites — Starlink constellations, GPS birds, ISS, Tiangong, and individual satellites across all orbital regimes (LEO, MEO, GEO, elliptical)
• Debris — Rocket body decay, fragmentation debris, defunct payloads
• Crewed stations — ISS, Tiangong, Shenzhou with live crew counts where available
• Orbital regime filtering — switch between LEO, MEO, GEO views to reduce visual noise

Live Demo

The Bifrost visualizer runs directly in the browser without a login. Clicking “Launch Visualizer” opens the 3D environment with real-time positional data. A UTC clock, object count, and data freshness indicator are shown at the top of the interface.

Setup Workflow

Heimdall requires no installation. It runs in the browser.

Step 1: Open the Visualizer

Navigate to heimdallspace.com and click Launch Visualizer.

No account, no email gate, no waitlist.

Step 2: Explore Orbital Regimes

Use the regime selector to switch views:

• LEO (Low Earth Orbit, ~200–2,000 km) — ISS, Starlink, most active satellites and debris
• MEO (Medium Earth Orbit, ~2,000–35,000 km) — GPS, GLONASS, Galileo navigation constellations
• GEO (Geostationary Orbit, ~35,786 km) — weather satellites, communication relays
• Elliptical — Molniya and Tundra orbits used for high-latitude coverage

Step 3: Search for a Specific Object

The search bar accepts NORAD catalog numbers or satellite names. For example, searching “25544” returns the ISS. The positional data updates every pass.

Step 4: Subscribe to Mission Updates

The team offers a no-spam email list for release notes, roadmap milestones, and launch alerts. Found at the bottom of the main page — enter an email and click Transmit.

Technical Architecture

The ingest pipeline aggregates from:

| Source | Content | Access | |---|---|---| | Space-Track.org | Orbital elements (TLE), satellite metadata | Free registration | | planet4589.org | Enhanced catalog with cross-references | Public | | NASA 3D Resources | 3D models for select satellites | Public |

Orbital positions are computed from TLE (Two-Line Element) sets using SGP4 propagation. The frontend renders via WebGL with satellite position updates on a per-pass basis.

The team has not published a self-hosted option or open-source codebase at time of writing.

Practical Evaluation Checklist

• [x] Free, no account required
• [x] Browser-based 3D visualizer (no install)
• [x] Tracks 27,000+ objects in real time
• [x] Covers LEO, MEO, GEO, and elliptical orbits
• [x] Data sourced from Space-Track.org and planet4589.org
• [x] Live UTC clock and object freshness indicator
• [x] Email list for updates (opt-in only)
• [ ] No public source repository found
• [ ] No documented self-hosting option
• [ ] No API access documented

Security Notes

• No login or API key required to use the visualizer
• Data is publicly available from government/academic catalogs (Space-Track, McDowell)
• Email subscription is opt-in only; no evidence of data sharing with third parties
• No authentication tokens or personal data stored client-side

FAQ

Q: Is the source code open source? A: No public GitHub repository was found at time of writing. The team has not announced a self-hosted option.

Q: How accurate is the tracking? A: Positions are computed from TLE data published by Space-Track.org (US Space Command). Accuracy depends on the freshness of the TLE set — objects are updated on each orbital pass. Decayed objects may show stale positions.

Q: Does it track debris only, or active satellites too? A: Both. The 27,000+ object count includes active satellites, defunct payloads, rocket bodies, and debris fragments.

Q: Can I export orbital data or use an API? A: No API or export feature is documented on the site as of July 2026.

Q: Is there a mobile app? A: No app was announced in the HN launch thread or on the product page.

Conclusion

Heimdall fills a genuine gap: the public orbital catalog is technically accessible but practically unusable for most people. The team has done the work of ingesting multiple data sources and presenting them in a visual format that makes orbital awareness accessible without specialized software.

The account-free, browser-based approach is the right call for a tool in this category — frictionless access matters when the audience includes developers, educators, and space enthusiasts who just want to know where something is overhead.

For runany.dev readers who self-host tracking infrastructure or work with satellite data: this is worth bookmarking as a sanity-check against your own ingest pipeline. For everyone else: open the visualizer, search for the ISS (catalog number 25544), and watch it circle the planet in real time.

The platform is in open beta. If the four-person team keeps the free tier intact, it will become a standard reference tool for the developer and space communities.