◉
Real physics, real numbers
A patched-conic core with sphere-of-influence transitions, drag, and rocket-equation mass loss. The numbers are the real ones, no fudge.
52
orbital bodies
./terminal-space-program
Orbital mechanics,
in your terminal.
A take on Kerbal Space Program that lives in your terminal, shipped as a single static Go binary. Plan interplanetary transfers, fly off the pad by hand, rendezvous and dock, and bring a capsule home under parachute, with every orbit and planet drawn in braille dots.
▲ apoapsis
▼ periapsis
● body
➤ craft
⠁⠂⠄⡀⢀⠠⠐⠈⠁⠂⠄⡀⣀⣄⣆⣇⣿⣇⣆⣄⣀⡀⠄⠂⠁⠈⠐⠠⢀⡀⠄⠂⠁⠂⠄⡀⢀⠠⠐⠈
Under the hood it's a real orbital-mechanics sim: gravity, fuel, atmospheric drag, and timing all matter, the way they do in real life. Launches are hard. The Moon is inclined, the Earth is tilted on its axis, and unlike KSP without mods, the default game renders our solar system.
35
vessels
5
star systems
1
static binary
0
dependencies
Systems
What's inside
☉
Our actual solar system
Sol by default, rendered to scale with axial tilts, eclipses, and real ephemerides. Plus Alpha Centauri, TRAPPIST-1 and Kepler-452.
●
The KSP homage
A 1/10-scale stock-analog system: you should see familiar planets and moons on familiar orbits. The vessels port straight over from Sol, scaled to match, so they still fly to familiar Δv marks.
▤
Build it in the VAB
Compose engines, tanks, command cores, antennas and structure into stages, with a live Δv / TWR / mass readout. Design once, launch many.
➤
Fly it by hand
Stick-and-throttle off the launchpad, gravity turns, staging, rendezvous & docking, parachutes with auto-deploy. A framed KSP-style navball, keyboard only.
◇
Plan the hard burns
Hohmann transfers and plane changes, a Lambert solver, porkchop plots, and projected post-burn orbits with SOI-encounter prediction.
◈
CommNet & constellations
A signal network with DSN ground stations, relay graphs and "NO SIGNAL" gating. Deploy a ring of comsats from one carrier on phasing-orbit math.
▦
Moddable as data
Vehicle loadouts, parts, bodies and themes are JSON, not code. Drop a file in your config dir to add your own rockets, systems or palette.
▮
The Boss Key
Press ` to swap the whole screen for a convincing fake dev shell. Type exit to drop back into the game right where you left off.
Get it
Install
Static, dependency-free binaries: CGO_ENABLED=0, no Go toolchain required to run. Pick your platform.
macOS & Linux · Homebrew
recommendedbrew install --cask jasonfen/tap/terminal-space-programWindows · Scoop
scoop bucket add jasonfen https://github.com/jasonfen/scoop-bucket
scoop install terminal-space-programDirect download
Grab a release archive and run it. Swap linux-amd64 for your platform: linux-arm64, darwin-amd64, darwin-arm64, or windows-amd64 (.zip on Windows).
curl -L https://github.com/jasonfen/terminal-space-program/releases/latest/download/terminal-space-program-linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
./terminal-space-programWith the Go toolchain
go install github.com/jasonfen/terminal-space-program/cmd/terminal-space-program@latestFrom source
Go 1.24+git clone https://github.com/jasonfen/terminal-space-program
cd terminal-space-program
go build ./cmd/terminal-space-program
./terminal-space-programFirst flight: you spawn in an Apollo-style S-IVB in a 500 km orbit. Press t to target the Moon, H to plant a Hohmann transfer with inclination change, or fly it all by hand.