DownrangeExplore launch viewing opportunities and sunlit plumes from the places that matter to you.
Sign in to your server to set up your sky.
First install? Use admin and the password set in your container template. When left blank, a generated password appears once in the container log.
THE NEXT THING IN YOUR SKY
Launches, viewing windows, and the possibility of a space jellyfish.
Add a town or coordinates. Your location can be anywhere in the world.
Candidates use a broad search envelope, not a known flight path. “Outside the screen” does not mean invisible. All directions are relative to true north.
Save home, a favorite beach, or somewhere you are traveling. Notifications use these saved spots, not background GPS.
Choose the opportunities worth an interruption. The server handles reminders while the app is closed.
Checking notification support…
An HTTPS address is required on a phone. On iPhone, add Downrange to your home screen first. Allow notifications when asked.
With a supplied trajectory, Downrange models the rocket’s position relative to your horizon as time passes. Without one, a broad first-ascent envelope identifies candidates worth investigating. It cannot tell you the actual direction or visibility.
Ordinary launch screening looks for powered flight above your horizon with the Sun below your horizon. Jellyfish screening looks for a sunlit, plume-bearing segment with your Sun at least 4° below the horizon. Daytime detection is left unknown, not declared impossible.
These are geometric opportunities, not calibrated detection probabilities. Clouds, plume brightness and expansion, local obstacles, atmospheric extinction, and real mission maneuvers can change what you see. No percentage chance is invented.
The server follows the global launch feed across pages, with no launch-provider filter, and adapts polling to the provider’s rate budget. Stale data, imprecise dates, holds, and obsolete schedules suppress viewing reminders. This is not a live launch-control feed.
Every launch record with pad coordinates is evaluated, not just Falcon 9. A separate worker matches public mission information from Next Spaceflight, estimated heading metadata from the Space Jellyfish Predictor, and linked official mission pages. Available historical webcast ascent profiles inform Falcon-family estimates. Other vehicles use explicitly labeled engineering envelopes unless a sourced trajectory is available.
A configured Flight Club API key enables its documented mission-specific simulation adapter. Imported administrator tracks override automatic sources. Separate booster and upper-stage paths are never joined. Source disagreements and stale information are reported rather than hidden.
Coverage is not certainty. Published directions are not complete trajectories; a historic ascent is not the new mission. Unannounced launches, records absent from the launch feed, unsupported source formats, unsourced later burns, plume persistence, and calibrated daytime brightness are not magically solved by a generic model. Broad estimates require an additional alert opt-in.
Weather covers the observer’s forecast grid cell, not the full viewing ray. It is displayed separately and does not gate alerts. Predictions do not guarantee a visible event.
TheSpaceDevs / Launch Library 2 · Open-Meteo weather and geocoding · GeoNames location data
Self-hosted alpha for personal, noncommercial use with the included free-service endpoints. Check provider terms before broader or commercial deployment. Not affiliated with launch providers or the inspiration site.
Keep your appdata folder backed up. It contains accounts, locations, push subscriptions, and your server’s private push key.
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