Spylens
A real-time satellite intelligence simulator — 3D globe with live satellite tracking, aircraft monitoring, earthquake detection, and military-style visualization modes. Vibe coded in 15 minutes.
What Is It
Spylens is a real-time satellite intelligence simulator built on a 3D globe. It tracks thousands of satellites using actual orbital mechanics, overlays live aircraft data, earthquake activity, and street traffic — all rendered with military-aesthetic visualization modes.
Think Google Earth meets a spy movie control room.
How It Was Built
This was a pure vibe-coding experiment. I took a blog post from a developer who built something similar, grabbed YouTube video closed captions via yt-dlp for technical context, and had AI build the entire app. Total time: about 15 minutes.
The result is a fully functional real-time intelligence simulator with live data feeds and post-processing shaders.
Live Data Sources
| Layer | Source | Update Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Satellites | CelesTrak TLE data | Every second (propagated) |
| Aircraft | OpenSky Network ADS-B | Every 15 seconds |
| Earthquakes | USGS Hazards API | Every 5 minutes |
| Traffic | OpenStreetMap Overpass | On viewport change |
Satellite positions are calculated using real Two-Line Element orbital data and the satellite.js physics library — actual orbital mechanics, not approximations.
Visualization Modes
- Night Vision (NVG) — Green phosphor tube effect with grain and scanlines
- Thermal (FLIR) — Heat map visualization
- CRT Display — Retro monitor aesthetic
- Targeting Mode — Military targeting reticle overlay
All implemented as real-time GLSL post-processing shaders on the Cesium.js globe.
Why It Matters
Not for the project itself — it's a toy. It matters because it demonstrates what vibe coding can produce in minutes. The technical complexity here (orbital mechanics, real-time data fusion, WebGL shaders, 3D globe rendering) would have taken weeks to build manually. AI collapsed that to a coffee break.
This is an experiment in rapid AI-assisted development, not a production tool. It demonstrates the vibe coding methodology.
