Open by default.
OrbitalWiki is a provenance-first open database. The terms below govern use of the data and the compiled database. The website code is separately governed by its repository license.
[!] Accuracy Disclaimer
Orbital data is inherently approximate. Satellite positions, orbital parameters, and status information are provided for informational and research purposes only. Do not use OrbitalWiki data for operational flight planning, collision avoidance, re-entry prediction, or any safety-critical application. For operational use, rely on the satellite operator or an authoritative tracking source such as Space-Track.org.
The OrbitalWiki compiled database — including all normalized satellite records, claims, and enrichment data — is released under the Open Database License (ODbL) version 1.0.
You are free to:
- + Copy, distribute, and use the database
- + Produce works from the database
- + Modify, transform, and build upon the database
As long as you:
- →Attribute OrbitalWiki and its upstream sources (see below)
- →Share-alike: if you publicly use the database or a derivative, you must offer that database under ODbL-1.0
- →Keep open: if you redistribute the database, you may not use technical measures to restrict access beyond what ODbL allows
Any public use of OrbitalWiki data must include the following attributions for the upstream sources that make this database possible:
OrbitalWiki (orbitalwiki.com) — open satellite encyclopedia, ODbL-1.0
Orbital data courtesy of CelesTrak (celestrak.org), Dr. T.S. Kelso. Used under the CelesTrak Terms of Use; attribution required.
Launch and classification data from GCAT (General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects), Jonathan C. McDowell, planet4589.org, CC-BY 4.0
Enrichment data from Wikidata contributors. CC0. https://www.wikidata.org
The OrbitalWiki REST API provides access to the compiled database. All API responses include attribution headers (X-OrbitalWiki-Sources and X-OrbitalWiki-License) and a meta.attribution field in the JSON body.
API access is currently rate-limited to reasonable use. If you need higher throughput for a research or commercial project, contact us.
- · The OrbitalWiki website source code (governed separately by the repository license)
- · Third-party data accessed via links (e.g., Space-Track.org — see their own ToS)
- · Satellite imagery or photographs (not included in this database)
Questions about data use? Contact us or view all data sources.