Learn space GIS, week by week.
A free 30-week online course that takes you from no GIS background to expert-level production-grade space-domain GIS. Five progressive certification tracks, five hands-on capstones, taught with real geostationary thermal satellite imagery, real two-line element sets, and real spaceport data.
Built by a production space-GIS company. Every concept is grounded in a real space-domain application, every dataset is real satellite data (NOAA GOES-18, GOES-19, JMA Himawari-9), and every capstone produces something deployable. The same methodology powers LaunchDetect's live launch-detection pipeline at launchdetect.com.
View the full syllabus
The 5 certification tracks
Track 1 · Beginner
Full 30-week syllabus →
Start with Track 1
Ground Station Operator
Weeks 1–4 · 4 weeks · Capstone 1
Foundations of geographic information systems applied to space. By the end you can load, project, and visualize coordinate data, plot every active orbital launch pad on Earth, and reason about coordin…
Track 2 · IntermediateOrbital Analyst
Weeks 5–10 · 6 weeks · Capstone 2
Spatial analysis and orbital mechanics intertwined. Learn PostGIS for spatial SQL, then layer in two-line element sets, SGP4 propagation, and ground-track geometry to answer questions like 'which spac…
Track 3 · IntermediateRemote Sensing Specialist
Weeks 11–15 · 5 weeks · Capstone 3
Satellite imagery from sensor physics to plume detection. Learn the electromagnetic spectrum, optical/IR/SAR sensor types, and the GOES-R ABI band suite. The capstone is a working thermal plume detect…
Track 4 · AdvancedMission GIS Engineer
Weeks 16–20 · 5 weeks · Capstone 4
Move GIS off the desktop and into the browser, real-time, and 3D. Build vector tile pipelines, deliver maps via Leaflet/MapLibre/OpenLayers, draw orbits on a CesiumJS globe, and stream live satellite …
Track 5 · ExpertSpace GIS Architect
Weeks 21–30 · 10 weeks · Capstone 5
Production-grade space GIS. Multi-sensor satellite fusion across GOES-East / GOES-West / Himawari-9, ML object detection in raster, SAR interferometry, cloud-native COG/Zarr/STAC formats, end-to-end A…
Certificates. The entire curriculum (primers, quizzes, labs) is free and public. Each of the 5 tracks ends in a capstone whose successful completion mints a verifiable certificate at
/academy/verify/{certId}/. Certificate issuance is included with LaunchDetect Gold ($9.99/month).How it works
- Self-paced. Each week's content (primer, quiz, lab) takes 3–6 hours. Capstones take 8–20 hours.
- Real data. Labs use NOAA GOES NetCDFs, CelesTrak TLEs, and Natural Earth boundaries — the same data feeding production space-GIS.
- Hybrid labs. Each lab is a downloadable Jupyter notebook with a one-click "Open in Colab" button. Run in the browser or clone locally with Python 3.11+.
- Verifiable credentials. Certificates earned at the 5 capstones each have a public verification URL anyone can check.
- Industry-standard tooling. QGIS, PostGIS, CesiumJS, MapLibre, Python (geopandas, rasterio, xarray, skyfield), AWS.
Frequently asked questions
What is LaunchDetect Academy?
LaunchDetect Academy is a free 30-week online course in space-domain geographic information systems (GIS). The curriculum takes a learner from no GIS background to expert-level production-grade space GIS over 5 certification tracks, each anchored by a hands-on capstone using real geostationary thermal satellite imagery, real two-line element sets (TLEs), and real spaceport data.
How much does the course cost?
The entire 30-week curriculum is free and publicly available. Each week's primer, quiz, and hands-on lab notebook is open and downloadable. Certificate issuance (verifiable credential URLs at launchdetect.com/academy/verify/{certId}/) is gated to the LaunchDetect Gold tier at $9.99/month.
What background do I need to start?
No GIS background. The first track (Ground Station Operator, weeks 1–4) assumes only that you are comfortable with basic computing tasks (opening files, installing software). Some Python helps but is not required for Track 1. By Track 2 you should be comfortable with basic Python, and by Track 4 with basic web development (HTML, JavaScript). Each track lists its prerequisites on the cert track page.
How are the labs delivered?
Each week has a downloadable Jupyter notebook on GitHub (github.com/launchdetect/academy-labs) plus a one-click 'Open in Colab' button that runs the notebook in Google Colab with the data pre-loaded. You can also clone the repo and run locally with Python 3.11+.
How long does the full course take?
Self-paced. The course is structured as 30 weeks, with each week's content (primer + quiz + lab) taking roughly 3–6 hours. The capstones at weeks 4, 10, 15, 20, and 30 take longer (8–20 hours each depending on the track).
What are the 5 certifications?
Ground Station Operator (after week 4 capstone), Orbital Analyst (after week 10), Remote Sensing Specialist (after week 15), Mission GIS Engineer (after week 20), and Space GIS Architect (after week 30). Each is a separate verifiable certificate.
Why is this course space-themed?
LaunchDetect is a real production space-GIS platform that detects rocket launches from geostationary thermal imagery (NOAA GOES-18, GOES-19, JMA Himawari-9). The course is the educational counterpart: every concept is grounded in a real space-domain application, every dataset is real satellite data, and every capstone produces something deployable. This makes the GIS skills directly applicable to the most rapidly growing application of geospatial work.
Do I get a certificate that employers recognize?
The certificate has a public verifiable URL at launchdetect.com/academy/verify/{certId}/, so anyone (recruiters, employers) can independently verify the credential. The course is developed by LaunchDetect (a real production space-GIS company) and aligns with industry-standard tools (QGIS, PostGIS, CesiumJS, Python, AWS).
What if I'm already a GIS professional?
Skip ahead. Each track page lists prerequisites and outcomes — start at the track where the outcomes are new to you. Track 3 (Remote Sensing Specialist) and Track 5 (Space GIS Architect) cover specialized domains (satellite imagery, multi-sensor fusion, ML for raster, SAR, cloud-native formats) that few traditional GIS programs cover.
Can I contribute or correct content?
Yes. The academy-labs repository (github.com/launchdetect/academy-labs) accepts pull requests for lab corrections, additional exercises, and translations. Curriculum-level changes can be requested via GitHub issues.