Gateways connect a system (a satellite or ground station) to Major Tom using our WebSocket-based API.

Table of Contents:

New to Major Tom?

We recommend running our Example Python Gateway locally to get started! It's intended to give you a feel for how to interact with satellites from Major Tom and give an example of how to use the API documented below.

Gateways in Major Tom

A Gateway can be thought of as the translation layer between your satellite and Major Tom. Messages from Major Tom can contain information about the state of the world (such as Pass Events) or the actions of an Operator (such as clicking to execute a command). Messages to Major Tom contain information to help drive the UI, such as the progress of a file download, the telemetry from a satellite, or the status of a command being executed.

Gateways connect to the satellite in several ways:

• Directly (typically for flatsats),
• Through a groundstation you control, or
• Through Major Tom’s Ground Station Network interface

For authentication, Gateways use a token that is visible within the Major Tom UI. You must “create” a Gateway inside Major Tom first in order to see and copy this token.

Lastly, Gateways can be used to segment your channels of communication. For example, if you have multiple different “versions” of satellites, you could use a dedicated Gateway for each version. Or you may use a Gateway per groundstation. Or you could put all flatsats on one Gateway and all orbital assets on another. The organization is flexible and up to you.

Summary:

• Gateways connect Major Tom to satellites and groundstations.
• Gateways are asynchronous and bidirectional.
• Multiple Gateways can be used within a mission to segment communication channels.

Language Bindings

We are developing libraries in various languages to help you build your Gateway:

Currently, we have Python and Node.js.