Kestrel Launch Control

Mission control software for the Kestrel small-lift rocket: a launch sequencer in Rust, a ground-control CLI in Go, trajectory tooling in Python, and a live telemetry dashboard in TypeScript. Everything here is fictional and exists so that editors have something pretty to render.

Launch sequence

flowchart LR
    A[Pad idle] --> B[Propellant load]
    B --> C{Weather go?}
    C -- no --> H[Hold]
    H --> C
    C -- yes --> D[Terminal count]
    D --> E[Ignition]
    E --> F[Liftoff]
    F --> G[MECO]

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Status

Subsystem	Owner	State	Notes
Sequencer	flight	✅ ready	abort ladder under review
Telemetry	ground	✅ ready	50 Hz downlink, 12 channels
Trajectory	guidance	⚠️ in review	Hohmann estimates need validation
Dashboard	ground	🚧 building	live panel, no replay yet
Range safety	range	⛔ blocked	waiting on FTS certification

Quick start

cargo run --bin sequencer -- --mission mission.toml --dry-run
go run ./cmd/ground-control status
python3 tools/trajectory.py --apogee 210 --perigee 190

Reading

• [[Telemetry]] describes the downlink frame and channel map.
• [[Abort Modes]] lists every hold and abort ladder rung.
• Architecture is the systems view.
• Runbook is what the console operator follows on launch day.

[!tip] First time here? Start with the Runbook; it links to everything else in the order you will need it.

The sequencer's hold logic is the most delicate part¹, so read Abort Modes before touching it.

Footnotes

1. A hold that releases half a second late is a scrub; half a second early is a headline. ↩