README
¶
Terminal Space Program
Terminal-native orbital-mechanics rocket simulator. A take on Kerbal Space Program that lives in your terminal, distributed as a single static Go binary.
Inspiration
I love Kerbal Space Program, I love TUI Applications. I decided the two should be married for when I'm bored and have an SSH session available.
The Game
Plan transfers between planets and moons, fly your rocket off the pad and into orbit by hand, rendezvous and dock, stage away spent boosters, and bring a capsule home under parachute — all drawn with braille-canvas graphics and driven from the keyboard. No mouse required, no GUI, just a single binary in your terminal.
Under the hood it's a real orbital-mechanics sim: gravity, fuel, and timing all matter, the way they do in real life. Unlike KSP (without mods), the default game renders our solar system. Launches are hard they take 7.5km/s for LEO - just like real life. The moon is inclined, the earth is tilted on its axis. To match the real solar systems, there are real life vessels with accurate loadouts of thrust.
The visual foundation was lifted (with MIT attribution) from furan917/go-solar-system. See NOTICE.md for the full acknowledgments list.
Install
# Linux x86_64
curl -L https://github.com/jasonfen/terminal-space-program/releases/latest/download/terminal-space-program-linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
./terminal-space-program
Replace linux-amd64 with linux-arm64, darwin-amd64, darwin-arm64, or
windows-amd64 (use the .zip variant on Windows).
No Go toolchain, no libc dance. CGO_ENABLED=0 static binaries.
Build from source
git clone https://github.com/jasonfen/terminal-space-program
cd terminal-space-program
go build ./cmd/terminal-space-program
./terminal-space-program
Requires Go 1.24 or newer.
Learn more
- Controls & flight guide — a quick tour, a launch walkthrough, and the full list of keys.
- Version history — what landed in each release.
License
MIT. See LICENSE.
Directories
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| Path | Synopsis |
|---|---|
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cmd
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terminal-space-program
command
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internal
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missions
Package missions defines pass/fail objectives evaluated against the live sim state each Tick.
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Package missions defines pass/fail objectives evaluated against the live sim state each Tick. |
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physics
Package physics implements the spacecraft propagation layer: state vectors, integrators (Verlet + RK4), and patched-conic SOI handling.
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Package physics implements the spacecraft propagation layer: state vectors, integrators (Verlet + RK4), and patched-conic SOI handling. |
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planner
Package planner implements trajectory prediction (predictor) and stubs for Phase 3 maneuver-library work (hohmann, lambert) that slip past v0.1.
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Package planner implements trajectory prediction (predictor) and stubs for Phase 3 maneuver-library work (hohmann, lambert) that slip past v0.1. |
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render
Package render holds the visual constant tables shared across screens — body color palette, UI tier colors for status / nodes / trajectory.
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Package render holds the visual constant tables shared across screens — body color palette, UI tier colors for status / nodes / trajectory. |
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save
Package save persists and restores the simulation World as JSON.
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Package save persists and restores the simulation World as JSON. |
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settings
Package settings holds the player's global UI preferences — currently the default visibility of each orbit-screen Chip — persisted to a standalone settings.json under $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/terminal-space-program/.
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Package settings holds the player's global UI preferences — currently the default visibility of each orbit-screen Chip — persisted to a standalone settings.json under $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/terminal-space-program/. |
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sim
Package sim — v0.11.0+ launch-trail breadcrumb buffer.
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Package sim — v0.11.0+ launch-trail breadcrumb buffer. |
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spacecraft
Package spacecraft holds the Spacecraft type and its mutable runtime state (current primary + state vector + fuel).
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Package spacecraft holds the Spacecraft type and its mutable runtime state (current primary + state vector + fuel). |
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tui/screens
Package screens implements the individual tea.Model screens composed by tui.App: OrbitView (C8), BodyInfo (C9), Maneuver (C20), Help (C9).
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Package screens implements the individual tea.Model screens composed by tui.App: OrbitView (C8), BodyInfo (C9), Maneuver (C20), Help (C9). |
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tui/widgets
Package widgets provides drawille-backed canvas + lipgloss HUD helpers shared by all screens.
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Package widgets provides drawille-backed canvas + lipgloss HUD helpers shared by all screens. |