SolNav

SolNav is an astrodynamics workbench and cycler design platform: a Python orbital-mechanics engine, a FastAPI service, and a React + TypeScript workbench for planning and visualizing interplanetary trajectories.

• Plan heliocentric transfers with Hohmann, Lambert, launch-window scan, and porkchop-plot previews.
• Compare mixed-provider trajectories across deterministic SPICE, HORIZONS, and SBDB proxy data.
• Search repeat-aware Earth-Mars cycler trajectories with closure-readiness scoring.
• Analyze local moon-system encounters (Earth-Moon, Mars-Phobos/Deimos, Jupiter-Io/Europa, Saturn-Titan/Enceladus).
• Save studies, export CSVs, and generate mission dossiers from any analysis.

v1.0 is shipped. See projects/solnav/README.md for the full feature breakdown and projects/solnav/docs/v1.0-release-notes.md for release scope and known boundaries.

Just want to explore? (no coding)

You need only Python 3 and Node.js installed. Then one action opens SolNav:

• On a Mac: double-click Open SolNav.command in this folder.

• Any system, from a terminal:

  cd projects/solnav
  python3 -m solnav_launch

That single command sets everything up the first time (a minute or two), builds the workbench, starts one local server, and opens SolNav in your browser. After the first run it opens in seconds. Leave the window running while you use it; press Control-C when you are done. Nothing is uploaded and no account is needed — SolNav runs entirely on your own computer.

New to orbits? Start in Guided mode, which asks what you want to do in plain language and walks you through it.

Developing SolNav

The launcher above is for exploring. For hot-reload development, run the API and web dev server as two processes:

cd projects/solnav
pip install -e ".[dev]"
python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -p "test_*.py"
python3 -m uvicorn api.fastapi.app.main:app --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

cd projects/solnav
npm install
cd apps/web
npm run dev -- --host 127.0.0.1 --port 5173

Full startup notes: projects/solnav/docs/local-startup.md.

Repository layout

projects/solnav/     Active SolNav codebase (engine, API, web workbench, tests, docs)
references/solnav/   Source architecture and planning reference material

License

MIT — see LICENSE.