In-depth architectural comparison of the N2yo and Science MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.
At a Glance & Executive Verdict
N2yo
Aerospace & Astrodynamics · Remote HTTP/SSE
Quality: 49/100 (Fair) | Auth: No auth required
Science
Aerospace & Astrodynamics · Remote HTTP/SSE
Quality: 56/100 (Good) | Auth: No auth required
Verdict Summary: Choose N2yo if you need specialized Aerospace & Astrodynamics tools running via a hosted cloud SSE transport. Choose Science if your workspace requires Aerospace & Astrodynamics integration with remote web transport. Both servers can be configured concurrently in your client's mcpServers manifest.
Which MCP Server Should You Choose?
Choose N2yo when:
You need dedicated capabilities in the Aerospace & Astrodynamics domain.
You prefer remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
Track where a satellite is right now (or in the next few seconds): get its live latitude, longitude, altitude, and look-angles (azimuth/elevation) from an observer on Earth. Use this to answer "where is the ISS right now?" (NORAD id 25544) or to locate any satellite by NORAD id. Example: get_positi…
get_visual_passes
Find when a satellite will be visible to the naked eye overhead from an observer location (visual passes = bright, sunlit passes against a dark sky). Returns start/max/end times, elevation, azimuths, brightness magnitude, and duration. Use this for "when can I see the ISS pass over?" Example: get_v…
whats_above
List what satellites are currently above a location on Earth, within a given radius of the observer's zenith. Use this to answer "what satellites are overhead right now?" Optionally filter by category (e.g. 52 = Starlink, 18 = amateur radio, 1 = brightest). Example: whats_above({ lat: 40.71, lon: -…
Science Tools (4)
get_iss_location
Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations
Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).
N2yo is categorized under Aerospace & Astrodynamics and uses a remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport. In contrast, Science belongs to Aerospace & Astrodynamics using remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport. Select N2yo when you need capabilities focused on aerospace & astrodynamics and Science when you require tools for aerospace & astrodynamics.
Fetch the International Space Station's current latitude, longitude, and Unix timestamp from the Open Notify API. No inputs required; returns a real-time position fix.
get_earthquakes
Retrieve up to 20 globally recent earthquakes from the USGS FDSN service, filtered by lookback period (1–30 days, default 1) and minimum magnitude (default 4.0). Returns magnitude, location name, depth (km), coordinates, time, and tsunami warning flag.
get_air_quality
Check current air quality at a latitude/longitude. Returns US AQI score and category plus PM2.5, PM10, ozone, NO2, and CO levels.
get_apod
Get NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day with image URL, title, and explanation. Optionally specify a date (e.g., '2024-01-15').