ISS Tracker Screensaver
The ISS Tracker screensaver shows the International Space Station's live position over a world map, trailing its ground track and reporting its altitude and speed in real time. The data comes from the open wheretheiss.at API — no key needed. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
How the ISS Tracker screensaver works
Every few seconds the saver asks the open wheretheiss.at API where the ISS is right now. The reply is a simple set of numbers: latitude, longitude, altitude (around 420 km) and ground speed (about 27,600 km/h).
That latitude and longitude is projected onto an equirectangular world map, so the station's marker sits directly over the point on Earth it's currently passing.
Each reported position is added to a ground track — the fading line trailing the marker — so you see the orbit's familiar sine-wave path sweep across the map, broken cleanly where it wraps the date line.
A panel reads out the live latitude, longitude, altitude and speed. The station completes an orbit roughly every 90 minutes, so over time the track marches steadily eastward.
A worked example
At a typical moment the readout might show lat 14.9° lon 47.7° alt 418 km 27,588 km/h — the ISS over the Arabian Sea on the climbing part of its orbit. Watch for a minute and the marker visibly moves; leave it running and the trailing track draws the full looping orbit. The visibility note shows whether the station is in daylight or Earth's shadow.
Settings & tips
- Refresh sets how often the live position is fetched — every few seconds keeps the marker moving smoothly.
- Track color recolours the orbit trail and the marker's halo.
- It needs an internet connection for the live position; offline it shows a short notice.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the ISS position real and live?
- Yes. It's fetched every few seconds from the open wheretheiss.at API, so the marker shows where the International Space Station actually is right now.
- How fast and high is the ISS?
- It orbits about 420 km up at roughly 27,600 km/h, circling the Earth about once every 90 minutes. The live figures are shown in the panel.
- What is the trailing line?
- That's the ground track — the path on Earth directly beneath the station. Its sine-wave shape comes from the orbit's tilt relative to the equator.
- Does it need an internet connection?
- Yes, it reads a live API. Opened from a local file with no connection, it shows a short notice instead of the map.
- Is the ISS tracker screensaver free?
- Yes, free and browser-based with no key or download. Run it fullscreen and press ESC to exit.