{"id":"space-mcp-server","name":"space-mcp-server","homepage":"https://pypi.org/project/space-mcp-server/","repo_url":"https://github.com/AiAgentKarl/space-mcp-server","category":"ai-ml","subcategories":[],"tags":["mcp","mcp-server","python","nasa","space-data","agent-tools","tool-calling","astronomy"],"what_it_does":"An MCP server (stdio-based) that exposes NASA/space-related tools to AI agents, including APOD, NASA image search, exoplanets, space weather (DONKI), Mars rover photos/info, near-Earth objects (NeoWs), asteroid orbital details, Earth imagery (EPIC), and natural events (EONET).","use_cases":["Letting an AI agent retrieve and summarize NASA space data (e.g., APOD, exoplanets)","Building space/astronomy chat or research assistants with tool-augmented browsing","Automating workflows that fetch imagery/events/orbital data for analysis or reporting","Exploration/education bots that can fetch up-to-date space content"],"not_for":["High-throughput production APIs requiring guaranteed latency/SLAs","Use as a general-purpose data platform beyond the specific NASA datasets it wraps","Security-sensitive applications that require strong tenant isolation or custom authorization policies beyond upstream APIs"],"best_when":"You want an agent to call curated, read-only NASA/space datasets via MCP for lightweight automation and research.","avoid_when":"You need strict operational guarantees, robust per-request authorization controls, or a documented stable public contract/versioned schemas beyond basic MCP tool definitions.","alternatives":["Directly call NASA APIs from your own code (APOD, Mars, NeoWs, DONKI)","Use other MCP servers or generic tools that already wrap NASA datasets","Build a small integration layer using httpx + Pydantic around the specific NASA endpoints you need"],"af_score":62.8,"security_score":45.5,"reliability_score":18.8,"package_type":"mcp_server","discovery_source":["pypi"],"priority":"low","status":"evaluated","version_evaluated":null,"last_evaluated":"2026-04-04T21:43:58.561075+00:00","interface":{"has_rest_api":false,"has_graphql":false,"has_grpc":false,"has_mcp_server":true,"mcp_server_url":null,"has_sdk":false,"sdk_languages":["Python"],"openapi_spec_url":null,"webhooks":false},"auth":{"methods":["NASA API key via NASA_API_KEY environment variable (DEMO_KEY optional)"],"oauth":false,"scopes":false,"notes":"No separate auth/authorization is described for the MCP server itself; access control appears to rely on the upstream NASA API key requirement for some tools."},"pricing":{"model":null,"free_tier_exists":false,"free_tier_limits":null,"paid_tiers":[],"requires_credit_card":false,"estimated_workload_costs":null,"notes":"Pricing is not for the MCP server; upstream NASA API has rate limits for DEMO_KEY vs registered keys (e.g., 30/hour for DEMO, 1000/hour registered). Other referenced APIs are described as no limit."},"requirements":{"requires_signup":false,"requires_credit_card":false,"domain_verification":false,"data_residency":[],"compliance":[],"min_contract":null},"agent_readiness":{"af_score":62.8,"security_score":45.5,"reliability_score":18.8,"mcp_server_quality":74.0,"documentation_accuracy":62.0,"error_message_quality":0.0,"error_message_notes":null,"auth_complexity":80.0,"rate_limit_clarity":70.0,"tls_enforcement":60.0,"auth_strength":45.0,"scope_granularity":20.0,"dependency_hygiene":55.0,"secret_handling":50.0,"security_notes":"Security posture relies largely on upstream public NASA APIs. The server is configured via NASA_API_KEY env var; README does not mention secret redaction/logging practices, TLS/transport details for outbound calls, or any internal auth/authorization or fine-grained access control for MCP tool usage. No evidence of additional security features (scopes, tenant isolation, audit logging) in the provided materials.","uptime_documented":0.0,"version_stability":25.0,"breaking_changes_history":20.0,"error_recovery":30.0,"idempotency_support":"false","idempotency_notes":"Most tools appear read-only (data fetch/search), which are typically idempotent, but idempotency behavior/error handling is not documented.","pagination_style":"none","retry_guidance_documented":false,"known_agent_gotchas":["Upstream NASA rate limits apply; agents may receive failures when limits are hit (especially with DEMO_KEY).","Some sources are described as 'no limit' but MCP server may still need its own backoff/timeouts (not documented).","Tool inputs/outputs are not shown in the README; agents may need to infer schemas or rely on MCP-provided JSON schema/tool definitions at runtime.","Because it’s stdio-based MCP, deployment requires running the server process alongside the agent runtime and providing env vars (NASA_API_KEY)."]}}