WhatsApp ISS Bot

I recently have been working on a WhatsApp bot that can be used to receive times that the International Space Station will be flying past your location. With WhatsApp you can share your location. Unlike SMS, WhatsApp has a builtin way of sending location data. This makes it easy for a program like the ISS bot to do something with location data. For now I just wanted a place to publish some information about the bot.

Instructions to use the Bot

1. From WhatsApp, send join nodded-pile to +1-415-523-8886, .
2. Send any message to the bot once you've joined successfully (you will get back instructions).
3. Send your location to the bot and you will get a list of times.

What the does the bot do?

When you send the bot your location from WhatsApp, the bot reaches out to various APIs, and does it's best to calculate the several times that the International Space Station will be visible from your location. It doesn't take into account weather conditions yet, but it does take into the time the sun will setting at your location.

Additionally the bot checks if the ISS will be "sunlit". It turns out that you can only view the ISS when it is in sunlight but it also obviously has to be dark. You can't see ISS during the daytime. A few times that I've spotted the ISS I was able to see actually observe the transition from it being it sunlight, to disappearing in the shadow of the earth. It's a really cool thing to observe. You will very likely see it yourself if you try to spot it a few times.

The bot will give you additional info about how to look for the ISS as well. It gives you the angle of elevation, as well as the the azimuthal angle at which you will need to look to observe the ISS.

Future to-do's

• Create a site where you can register for notifications via email, text, or WhatsApp. This is not a new idea but I would like to do it anyways.
• Account for weather, if it's a cloudy night, you won't be able to observe the ISS.