A side-by-side look at the Jpl Ssd and Nasa MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Jpl Ssd for aerospace & astrodynamics work as a local process; choose Nasa for aerospace & astrodynamics as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
get_small_body, close_approaches, impact_risk.get_apod, get_asteroids, get_mars_photos.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Aerospace & Astrodynamics | Aerospace & Astrodynamics |
| Quality signal | 51/100 · Good | 49/100 · Fair |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 4 | 9 |
| Full listing | View Jpl Ssd | View Nasa |
get_small_bodyNASA/JPL Solar System Dynamics — look up an asteroid or comet by name or designation and return its orbit and physical parameters (eccentricity, semi-major axis, MOID, diameter, albedo, NEO/PHA flags). Keyless.close_approachesNASA/JPL CNEOS — list near-Earth close approaches to Earth in a date range, with miss distance (AU), relative velocity (km/s), and absolute magnitude (size proxy). Keyless.impact_riskNASA/JPL CNEOS Sentry — Earth impact risk for asteroids. Pass a designation for one object's cumulative impact probability, Palermo/Torino scale, diameter, and impact window; or omit it to list all currently-tracked objects above an impact-probability threshold. Keyless.recent_fireballsNASA/JPL CNEOS — most recent atmospheric fireballs/bolides detected by U.S. Government sensors, with date, radiated and total impact energy (kilotons of TNT), location, altitude, and velocity. Keyless.get_apodGet the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day with explanation. Optionally specify a date. Example: get_apod({ date: "2024-01-15", _apiKey: "DEMO_KEY" })get_asteroidsGet near-Earth asteroids approaching within a date range (max 7 days). Returns size, velocity, and miss distance. Example: get_asteroids({ start_date: "2024-01-01", end_date: "2024-01-07", _apiKey: "DEMO_KEY" })get_mars_photos"Show me photos from the Mars rover" / "Perseverance images from sol 1000" / "latest pictures from Mars" — raw images from NASA's Perseverance rover (Mars 2020), straight off the mars.nasa.gov feed. Filter by Martian sol and by camera. Returns image URLs at four resolutions, the sol, the UTC and Ma…search_nasa_imagesSearch the NASA Image and Video Library for images/videos of any subject — planets, missions, astronauts, launches, galaxies, etc. PREFER for "NASA photos of Jupiter", "images of the Apollo 11 mission", "pictures of a nebula". Returns title, description, date, NASA ID, media type, and a thumbnail U…get_solar_flaresGet recent solar flare events from NASA DONKI space-weather data. Returns each flare's class (e.g. C4.0, M1.8, X1.2), begin/peak/end times, source region, and active region number. Use for "recent solar flares", "is there solar activity / a solar storm", space-weather questions.donki_cme"Was there a coronal mass ejection this week?" / "is a CME heading for Earth?" — coronal mass ejections catalogued by NASA DONKI, the space-weather event database run by NASA's Community Coordinated Modeling Center. AUTHORITATIVE for CME occurrence and geometry: returns each eruption's start time,…donki_geomagnetic_storms"Was there a geomagnetic storm?" / "will there be an aurora tonight?" / "how strong was the Kp index?" — geomagnetic storm events from NASA DONKI, each with the full series of observed Kp index readings and their timestamps. AUTHORITATIVE for whether Earth's magnetic field was actually disturbed, a…donki_solar_energetic_particlesSolar energetic particle (SEP) events from NASA DONKI — bursts of high-energy protons arriving at Earth after a flare or CME. These are the events behind radiation warnings for polar airline routes, astronaut EVA holds and satellite single-event upsets. Returns the event time, the detecting instrum…donki_notifications"What is the current space weather forecast?" — the alerts, watches, warnings and weekly summary reports NASA DONKI issues to spacecraft operators. This is the narrative layer over the event catalogues: a human forecaster's text saying what happened, what is expected and what the impact is. Filter…Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
{
"mcpServers": {
"jpl-ssd": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-jpl-ssd"
]
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"nasa": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-nasa"
]
}
}
}