juliensimon/space-track-satcat

NORAD Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)

Part of the Orbital Mechanics Datasets collection on Hugging Face.

Complete NORAD Satellite Catalog from CelesTrak, tracking every object cataloged by the 18th Space Defense Squadron since 1957. Currently 68,278 objects (25,540 payloads, 35,750 debris, 6,824 rocket bodies).

Dataset description

The SATCAT (Satellite Catalog) is the authoritative registry of all artificial objects in Earth orbit and beyond — active satellites, defunct spacecraft, rocket bodies, and debris. Each entry includes launch metadata, orbital parameters, operational status, and physical characteristics. This dataset mirrors the full catalog daily from CelesTrak.

Schema

Column	Type	Description
object_name	string	Official name (e.g. "STARLINK-1234", "ISS (ZARYA)")
intl_designator	string	International designator / COSPAR ID (e.g. "2024-123A")
norad_id	int32	NORAD catalog number (unique identifier)
object_type	string	PAY (payload), R/B (rocket body), DEB (debris), UNK (unknown)
ops_status	string	Operational status code (see below)
owner	string	Owner/operator country or organization code
launch_date	datetime	Launch date (UTC)
launch_site	string	Launch site code (e.g. "AFETR", "TYMSC")
decay_date	datetime	Reentry/decay date, if applicable
period_min	float	Orbital period in minutes
inclination	float	Orbital inclination in degrees
apogee_km	float	Apogee altitude in km
perigee_km	float	Perigee altitude in km
rcs_m2	float	Radar cross-section in m²
data_status	string	Data quality/status flag
orbit_center	string	Central body (e.g. "EA" for Earth)
orbit_type	string	Orbit classification

Operational status codes

Code	Meaning
+	Operational
-	Non-operational
P	Partially operational
B	Backup/standby
S	Spare
X	Extended mission
D	Decayed
?	Unknown

Quick stats

• 68,278 cataloged objects
• 25,540 payloads, 35,750 debris fragments, 6,824 rocket bodies
• 34,930 objects have decayed/reentered
• 129 distinct owner codes

Usage

from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/space-track-satcat", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# Active payloads only
active = df[(df["object_type"] == "PAY") & (df["ops_status"] == "+")]
print(f"{len(active):,} active payloads")

# Launches per year
df["year"] = df["launch_date"].dt.year
launches_by_year = df.groupby("year")["norad_id"].count()

# Objects by owner
top_owners = df["owner"].value_counts().head(10)

# LEO vs GEO
leo = df[(df["perigee_km"] < 2000) & (df["perigee_km"] > 0)]
geo = df[(df["perigee_km"] > 35000) & (df["apogee_km"] < 36500)]

Data source

All data comes from CelesTrak, which mirrors the official US Space Command SATCAT. CelesTrak is maintained by Dr. T.S. Kelso and is the standard public source for space situational awareness data.

Update schedule

Daily at 06:00 UTC via GitHub Actions.

Related datasets

• starlink-fleet-data — Daily Starlink constellation health snapshots
• space-launch-log — Global launch history from GCAT
• starlink-ground-stations — Starlink gateway and PoP locations

Pipeline

Source code: juliensimon/space-datasets

Support

If you find this dataset useful, please give it a ❤️ on the dataset page and share feedback in the Community tab! Also consider giving a ⭐️ to the space-datasets repo.

Citation

@dataset{space_track_satcat,
  author = {Simon, Julien},
  title = {NORAD Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)},
  year = {2026},
  publisher = {Hugging Face},
  url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/space-track-satcat},
  note = {Based on NORAD/18th Space Defense Squadron data via CelesTrak (Dr. T.S. Kelso)}
}

License

CC-BY-4.0