Curious Pilot replays real aircraft flights and simulates what satellites were visible from the cockpit — a real-time visualization of celestial objects, satellites, and the earth below, as the pilot would have seen it.
It also works from any ground location, predicting naked-eye satellite brightness using SGP4 orbital propagation, solar illumination geometry, and the McCants/Stellarium magnitude model.
Ground Mode — Enter your location (or search by name), set the date/time, and press Play. Visible satellites appear as moving dots on the sky dome.
Aircraft Mode — Enter an ICAO24 hex code, date, and time window, then click Load Flight. The app replays the flight path and shows satellites visible from the aircraft.
Controls — Drag the sky to look around. Use the heading and elevation sliders for precise aiming. The magnitude filter limits which satellites are shown.
Satellite Info — Click the “x satellites visible” count at the upper left to see a list of visible satellites with details.
Philip Giacalone is an aerospace engineer and software developer whose technical career has spanned spacecraft propulsion systems, autonomous drones, and Silicon Valley software startups.
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