Using the CData ODBC Driver for NASA in PyCharm

The CData ODBC Drivers can be used in any environment that supports loading an ODBC Driver. In this tutorial we will explore using the CData ODBC Driver for NASA from within PyCharm. Included are steps for adding the CData ODBC Driver as a data source, as well as basic PyCharm code to query the data source and display results.

To begin, this tutorial will assume that you have already installed the CData ODBC Driver for NASA as well as PyCharm.

Add Pyodbc to the Project

Follow the steps below to add the pyodbc module to your project.

1. Click File -> Settings to open the project settings window.
2. Click Project Interpreter from the Project: YourProjectName menu.
3. To add pyodbc, click the + button and enter pyodbc.
4. Click Install Package to install pyodbc.

Connect to NASA

You can now connect with an ODBC connection string or a DSN. See the Getting Started section in the CData driver documentation for a guide to creating a DSN on your OS.

Using API Key Authentication

Most NASA API endpoints (APOD, NeoWS, DONKI, TechTransfer) require a NASA API key. Register for a free key at https://api.nasa.gov. The default DEMO_KEY provides limited access (30 requests/hour, 50 requests/day); a registered key allows 1,000 requests/hour.

The following endpoints do not require an API key and work without authentication: EONET (Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker), EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera), NASA Image and Video Library, and TechPort.

After obtaining your API key, set the following connection properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
• APIKey: Set this to your NASA API key. Use DEMO_KEY for limited testing.

Example Connection String

Profile=C:\profiles\NASA.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;APIKey=YOUR_NASA_API_KEY

Connecting to NASA

Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to NASA and query data from any of the available tables such as AstronomyPictureOfDay, NearEarthObjectFeed, EonetEvents, and NasaImageLibrary.

Below is the syntax for a DSN:

[CData API Source]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for NASA
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\NASA.apip
AuthScheme = APIKey
APIKey = YOUR_NASA_API_KEY

Execute SQL to NASA

Instantiate a Cursor and use the execute method of the Cursor class to execute any SQL statement.

import pyodbc

cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DRIVER={CData ODBC Driver for API};Profile = C:\profiles\NASA.apip;AuthScheme = APIKey;APIKey = YOUR_NASA_API_KEY')
cursor = cnxn.cursor()
cursor.execute("SELECT , FROM AstronomyPictureOfDay WHERE StartDate = '2024-01-01'")
rows = cursor.fetchall()
for row in rows:
 print(row., row.)

After connecting to NASA in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver, you will be able to build Python apps with access to NASA data as if it were a standard database. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback regarding this tutorial, please contact us at [email protected].