✨ PDX Meteor Tracker ✨

A modern Next.js application for tracking Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and meteors approaching our planet, built with real-time data from NASA's Open Data Portal.

⚡⚡⚡ Live Demo

Features

• 🔭 Real-time Meteor Tracking: Display upcoming Near Earth Objects with detailed information
• 📊 Rich Data Visualization: Interactive cards showing meteor size, velocity, and approach distance
• 🚨 Hazard Detection: Highlight potentially hazardous asteroids
• 📸 Astronomy Picture of the Day: Beautiful space imagery from NASA
• 📱 Responsive Design: Works seamlessly on desktop and mobile devices
• 🎨 Modern UI: Built with Tailwind CSS and TypeScript

Tech Stack

• Framework: Next.js 15 with App Router
• Language: TypeScript
• Styling: Tailwind CSS
• API Integration: NASA Open Data Portal
• HTTP Client: Axios
• Date Handling: date-fns
• Deployment: Render.com

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm or yarn

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd pdx-meteor-tracker

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Set up environment variables:

cp .env.example .env.local

4. Get your NASA API key (optional - DEMO_KEY has rate limits):

   • Visit https://api.nasa.gov/
   • Sign up for a free API key
   • Update NEXT_PUBLIC_NASA_API_KEY in .env.local

5. Run the development server:

npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 to see the application.

API Integration

The application integrates with several NASA APIs:

• Near Earth Object Web Service (NeoWs): For asteroid and comet data
• Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD): For daily space imagery

Deployment on Render.com

1. Push your code to GitHub/GitLab
2. Connect your repository to Render
3. Use the included render.yaml configuration
4. Set environment variables in Render dashboard:
   • NEXT_PUBLIC_NASA_API_KEY: Your NASA API key
5. Deploy automatically on every push to main branch

Manual Deployment Steps

1. Sign up for Render.com
2. Create a new Web Service
3. Connect your Git repository
4. Configure:
   • Build Command: npm ci && npm run build
   • Start Command: npm start
   • Environment: Node.js
   • Plan: Free
5. Add environment variables in the dashboard
6. Deploy!

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required
NEXT_PUBLIC_NASA_API_KEY	NASA API key for data access	No (defaults to DEMO_KEY)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

Acknowledgments

• NASA Open Data Portal for providing free access to space data
• Next.js team for the amazing framework
• Tailwind CSS for the utility-first CSS framework