Provenance, where available.
OrbitalWiki is a provenance-first database. Where a supporting claim exists, a field exposes its source and confidence; missing provenance is shown as unknown. This page documents the sources we ingest, their licenses, and attribution requirements.
Import history, record counts and stall alerts for each source are on the source health dashboard.
CelesTrak OMM
The primary source for OMM mean-elements for tracked objects. Operated by Dr. T.S. Kelso. OMM supports six-digit catalog IDs; the legacy TLE format does not.
Every 6 hours
Aug 15, 2026, 12:30 PM UTC
OrbitalWiki ingests CelesTrak's active GP group as OMM JSON. Every object we hold current elements for is served through the OMM endpoint; only the legacy two-line TLE format is restricted, because its fixed-width fields cannot encode a six-digit NORAD catalog ID (100000 and above).
Orbital data retrieved from CelesTrak (celestrak.org), Dr. T.S. Kelso. Review the upstream usage policy before redistribution.
OrbitalWiki queries CelesTrak, not Space-Track directly. CelesTrak documents receiving and ingesting GP data through 18 SDS/Space-Track. Its usage policy governs retrieval; a reuse licence is not stated.
CelesTrak SATCAT
CelesTrak's satellite catalog supplies classification, launch, decay, and tracked-status metadata used alongside the OMM feed.
Daily
Aug 15, 2026, 12:30 PM UTC
Legacy fixed-field SATCAT records below catalog number 100000; newer six-digit objects are outside this feed's coverage.
Satellite catalog data courtesy of CelesTrak (celestrak.org).
SATCAT is a separate input from OMM and has its own ingestion health. Its fixed-field format cannot represent newly assigned six-digit catalog IDs.
GCAT, General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects
Jonathan McDowell's detailed public launch catalog. OrbitalWiki uses it for object classification, launch and decay dates, operators, country codes, and orbital regime; coverage can still contain omissions or unresolved records.
Daily
Aug 15, 2026, 07:58 AM UTC
GCAT's full catalog covers ~60,000+ objects ever launched; OrbitalWiki uses it to enrich existing CelesTrak records, not to add new historical or decayed rows
Data from GCAT, Jonathan C. McDowell, planet4589.org, CC-BY 4.0.
Attribution is required for all uses. Display on every page that includes GCAT-sourced data.
Wikidata
Community-maintained structured knowledge base. Used for operator details, country of operator, launch mass, and mission purpose, fields not present in CelesTrak OMMs. Queried via SPARQL endpoint, joined on COSPAR ID (P247).
Weekly, on Sunday
Aug 9, 2026, 08:27 AM UTC
Thousands of notable satellites, ISS, Hubble, GPS, Galileo, Starlink batches, and more
Wikidata contributors. CC0. https://www.wikidata.org
CC0 license means no attribution is legally required, but we credit Wikidata as a courtesy.
SatNOGS DB
SatNOGS DB contributor data supplies amateur-radio transmitter frequencies, modes, modulation, baud rates, and status.
Planned: Weekly on Sunday. The data below was imported once, by hand; the scheduled import is not running yet.
Jul 24, 2026, 06:45 PM UTC
Satellites with mappable SatNOGS transmitter records
Transmitter data from SatNOGS DB contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Community-maintained radio data can be incomplete or outdated. Verify frequencies and local regulations before transmitting.
OrbitalWiki manual curation
Editorial overrides and hand-verified corrections applied by OrbitalWiki when upstream sources are missing, stale, or in conflict. Contributes live claims, such as the operational status of high-profile objects like the ISS.
As corrections are reviewed and applied
Aug 15, 2026, 12:31 PM UTC
A small, targeted set of high-profile objects and known upstream gaps
Editorial corrections and original database structure curated by OrbitalWiki under ODbL-1.0; upstream source terms still apply.
Curated corrections are documented in our methodology and released under the compiled-database license.
OrbitalWiki compiled database
OrbitalWiki’s original compiled-database structure and contributions are offered under the Open Database License (ODbL-1.0). This does not relicense third-party records: upstream source terms still apply, and no OrbitalWiki plan or licence grants rights OrbitalWiki does not hold.
[!]How Space-Track relates to this feed
OrbitalWiki does not access Space-Track directly; its orbital feed comes from CelesTrak. CelesTrak's GP-format documentation says it receives and ingests GP data through 18 SDS/Space-Track. Review upstream terms before redistribution; OrbitalWiki does not claim independent origin or blanket redistribution rights.