Celestrak

What the Celestrak MCP server does

The Celestrak MCP server exposes CelesTrak satellite orbital catalog data to MCP-compatible AI clients. It works with TLE and GP records for tracked objects and returns structured orbital values rather than live telemetry or position updates.

The service supports three lookup patterns:

• Retrieve one object with its NORAD catalog ID.
• Search for matching catalog names using a text substring.
• Fetch the records in a supported CelesTrak group.

Returned data can include inclination, eccentricity, mean motion, right ascension of the ascending node, argument of perigee, epoch, and a calculated orbital period in minutes. The catalog includes examples such as the ISS under NORAD ID 25544 and Hubble under 20580.

How it works

The Celestrak MCP server can be reached through the Pipeworx hosted MCP endpoint or run locally as a stdio process. The hosted pack endpoint is available at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/celestrak/mcp; the full Pipeworx endpoint is https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp.

The pack endpoint lists the CelesTrak tools along with shared Pipeworx gateway tools. Those shared tools include routing and discovery functions such as ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, and memory-related tools. The exact tool scope is reported during MCP initialization. A local installation exposes only the CelesTrak pack tools and does not add the gateway meta-tools.

The hosted service also provides HTTP tool access. For example, a client can send a JSON POST request to /v1/tools/get_satellite with a norad_id value. This option is useful when an MCP client is not available.

Setup and configuration

For a hosted connection, add the pack URL to an MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "celestrak": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/celestrak/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The package also supports local execution through npm and communicates over standard input and output:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "celestrak": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-celestrak"]
    }
  }
}

Local mode avoids the gateway request path and does not require a Pipeworx account. No environment variables are documented.

Tools and capabilities

get_satellite accepts a NORAD catalog ID and returns the matching orbital record with orbital parameters and derived period.

search_by_name searches names by substring, with examples including STARLINK, NOAA, and GPS. It returns up to 50 matching records.

get_group retrieves orbital records for a named group. Supported groups include stations, starlink, gps-ops, weather, science, geo, and active; results contain up to 100 satellites.

The hosted endpoint's ask_pipeworx tool can route natural-language questions across the broader Pipeworx catalog, while direct calls remain limited to the tools listed above for the local package.

Limitations and notes

This is an independent, unofficial integration and is not described as affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by CelesTrak. The data is an orbital catalog, not a live tracking feed, so these tools should not be treated as a source of current satellite latitude, longitude, or real-time position.

Name searches and group queries are bounded by the stated result limits. Hosted and local connections also differ in scope: hosted connections include shared gateway tools, while the standalone process serves only the CelesTrak pack. The project is licensed under MIT.