Introduction

There are thousands of satellite "birds" up there. Buzzing around at all hours of the day and night—whether commercial, military, or educational—these satellites send and receive data from professional and amateur ground stations around the globe. And as satellites get cheaper, the number of them has proliferated, leading to an increasing problem for potential catastrophic collisions in space.

Tracking all that activity is a challenge. So, why not employ your own BBB in this endeavor?

Amateur satellite watchers have been around nearly since the dawn of Sputnik, an activity that fell under the rubric of ham radio, or HamSat. Nowadays, there is a host of interesting tools available that play nicely on Linux as well as microcomputers, such as BeagleBone Black.

For your smartphone alone, you can find dozens of free, downloadable tracking apps. Given their basic purpose—telling you when a satellite might pass nearby or passively receiving basic monitoring data—they deliver quick hits...