Space Weather MCP

A custom MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that connects Kiro to NASA and weather APIs, enabling space-aware daily briefings, stargazing condition reports, and astronomy picture exploration — all from within your IDE.

Demo

Video: Space Weather MCP Demo (mp4)

Repo: github.com/pyraenix/space-weather-mcp

What It Connects To

API	What it provides	Auth
NASA APOD	Astronomy Picture of the Day — title, explanation, image URLs	Free key (or DEMO_KEY)
OpenMeteo Weather	Current conditions, 7-day forecast, sunrise/sunset	No key needed
OpenMeteo Geocoding	City name → coordinates	No key needed

MCP Tools Provided

Tool	Description
get_astronomy_picture	Fetch NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (optional date param for archive)
get_weather	Current weather + 7-day forecast for any city worldwide
get_stargazing_conditions	Stargazing score (0-100) based on cloud cover, humidity, wind, and daylight
get_space_weather_briefing	Combined report: APOD + weather + stargazing in a single call

What I Built With It

A Space Weather Journal Generator that produces daily Markdown briefings combining:

1. What's happening in space today (NASA's picture of the day with full explanation)
2. Ground-level weather conditions for your city
3. A computed stargazing score telling you whether tonight is worth going outside

This is something Kiro cannot do without the MCP integration — it has no native access to live weather data or NASA's daily content. The MCP server gives Kiro real-time awareness of both astronomical events and local sky conditions.

Example Output

# 🌤️ Space Weather Journal — 2026-07-17
**Location:** Seattle, Washington, United States

## 🔭 Today in Space: The Dust Trail of Comet Tempel 2
Comet 10P/Tempel 2 orbits the Sun once every 5.4 years...

## 🌡️ Ground Conditions
| Temperature | 19°C (feels like 20.5°C) |
| Conditions  | Mainly clear              |
| Cloud Cover | 25%                       |

## 🌤️ Stargazing Score: 55/100 — Fair
⚠️ Partial clouds — some stars visible
✅ Low humidity — crisp atmosphere
✅ Calm winds — stable for telescopes
⏰ Wait for sunset to observe

Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• (Optional) NASA API key from api.nasa.gov — works without one using DEMO_KEY

Installation

git clone <repo-url>
cd space-weather-mcp

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the MCP server
npm run build

Environment Variables

cp .env.example .env

# Optional — the server works without this (uses DEMO_KEY with rate limits)
NASA_API_KEY=your_nasa_api_key_here

Configure in Kiro

The .kiro/settings/mcp.json is already included. If you're adding this to an existing project, add to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "space-weather": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["dist/index.js"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/space-weather-mcp",
      "env": {
        "NASA_API_KEY": "${env:NASA_API_KEY}"
      },
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Run the Demo

# Generate a space weather journal for any city
npx tsx demo/generate-briefing.ts "San Francisco"
npx tsx demo/generate-briefing.ts Tokyo
npx tsx demo/generate-briefing.ts London

Use in Kiro

Once the MCP server is configured, ask Kiro things like:

• "What's NASA's astronomy picture today?"
• "What are the stargazing conditions in Tucson tonight?"
• "Give me a full space weather briefing for my location"
• "Show me the APOD from my birthday (1995-06-16)"

Project Structure

space-weather-mcp/
├── .kiro/
│   ├── settings/mcp.json      # MCP server configuration
│   └── steering/space-weather.md  # Agent behavior guidance
├── src/
│   └── index.ts               # MCP server implementation (4 tools)
├── demo/
│   └── generate-briefing.ts   # Demo script — generates Markdown journals
├── dist/                      # Compiled output (after npm run build)
├── .env.example               # Environment variable template
├── .gitignore
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── README.md

How It Works

The MCP server runs on stdio transport (standard for Kiro MCP integrations). When Kiro starts, it launches the server as a child process and communicates via JSON-RPC over stdin/stdout.

┌─────────┐  stdio (JSON-RPC)  ┌──────────────────┐  HTTPS  ┌──────────────┐
│  Kiro   │ ◄────────────────► │  Space Weather   │ ◄──────► │  NASA APOD   │
│  IDE    │                     │  MCP Server      │          │  OpenMeteo   │
└─────────┘                     └──────────────────┘          └──────────────┘

The stargazing score is computed locally by the server using a weighted formula:

• Cloud cover (0-60 point penalty)
• Humidity (0-20 point penalty)
• Wind speed (0-20 point penalty)
• Daytime (30 point penalty)

Tech Stack

• Runtime: Node.js 18+, TypeScript
• MCP SDK: @modelcontextprotocol/sdk ^1.12.1
• APIs: NASA APOD (free), OpenMeteo (free, no key)
• Dev Tools: Kiro (MCP, steering, specs)

Kiro Birthday Challenge — Day 5

Built for the Kiro Birthday Challenge Day 5: "Build a custom MCP integration." This MCP server connects Kiro to real-time space and weather data it has no native access to, then uses that connection to generate contextual astronomy briefings that combine what's happening in space with conditions on the ground.

License

MIT