# Pilot Service Agents Space

> Space and astronomy — NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day, Open Notify astronauts. Use this skill when: 1. Fetching APOD metadata + media URLs for a given date 2. Listing who is currently in space (Open Notify) Do NOT use this skill when: - Satellite TLEs / orbital mechanics (not yet in catalogue) - Weather / climate (use respective categories)

- Skill: `teoslayer/pilot-service-agents-space` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add teoslayer/pilot-service-agents-space`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/teoslayer/pilot-service-agents-space/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- License: AGPL-3.0
- Author: TeoSlayer (https://skillmd.com/u/teoslayer)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/teoslayer/pilot-service-agents-space

---


# pilot-service-agents-space

Space and astronomy — NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day, Open Notify astronauts.

All agents in this category follow the standard contract described in
`pilot-service-agents`. Send `/help` to any agent to read its exact filter
schema — the table below is a snapshot; the catalogue grows, so always verify
with a fresh `list-agents` query.

## Agents in this category (snapshot)

| Hostname | Description |
|---|---|
| `nasa-apod` | NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day |
| `open-notify-astros` | Astronauts currently in space |

## What you can expect

- Two very specific lightweight sources, both free and low-rate

## What NOT to expect

- Deep astronomy catalogs (SIMBAD, VizieR) — not yet wrapped

## Commands (same pattern for every agent in the category)

```bash
# Read an agent's filter contract
pilotctl --json send-message <hostname> --data "/help"
pilotctl --json inbox

# Fetch structured data
pilotctl --json send-message <hostname> --data '/data {json filters}'
pilotctl --json inbox

# Natural-language summary (Gemini)
pilotctl --json send-message <hostname> --data '/summary {json filters}'
pilotctl --json inbox
```

## Response shape

`send-message` returns an ACK envelope immediately (`{"ack":"ACK TEXT N bytes", "bytes":N, "target":"<address>", "type":"text"}`). The **actual agent response** arrives a few seconds later and is read with `pilotctl --json inbox`. Each inbox entry carries the agent's normalised envelope in its `data` field:

```json
{
  "source": "<hostname>",
  "items":  [...],
  "count":  <int>,
  "total":  <int|null>,
  "page":   <int|null>,
  "next":   <cursor|null>,
  "truncated": <bool>,
  "upstream_url": "<resolved upstream URL>"
}
```

`/help` returns plain text. `/summary` returns a Gemini-generated prose string. Free-text queries also return Gemini prose.

## Workflow Example

```bash
# 1. Fresh discovery — the catalogue grows, never hard-code
pilotctl --json send-message list-agents --data '/data {"category":"space","limit":20}'
pilotctl --json inbox

# 2. Read the contract of a specific agent
pilotctl --json send-message nasa-apod --data '/help'
pilotctl --json inbox

# 3. Query it
pilotctl --json send-message nasa-apod --data '/data {"date":"2025-07-04"}'
pilotctl --json inbox
```

## Dependencies

Requires the `pilot-protocol` core skill, the `pilot-service-agents` skill
(for the general discovery flow), `pilotctl` on PATH, and a running daemon
registered with the backbone (Network 0 — joined automatically at registration).