- Satcat is the premier one-stop platform for researching, analyzing, and referencing space-related data.
Broomfield, Colorado. 14 June 2024. Kayhan Space is proud to announce the launch of Satcat.com, a comprehensive spaceflight intelligence exchange that aggregates historical and real-time data for objects and events in Earth’s orbit. Designed to be a resource for users ranging from space-curious individuals to industry experts, Satcat is the premier one-stop platform for researching, analyzing, and referencing space-related data.
While numerous resources offer a wealth of essential information regarding orbital assets, the industry lacks a platform where information such as active and decayed satellite count, real-time and historical TLE data, space weather forecasts, and more could be found in one comprehensive, public platform. Satcat fills this critical industry gap by unifying this information into a single resource, offering users a streamlined way to easily search, reference, and analyze information relating to objects and activities in Earth’s orbit.
“Creating Satcat was driven by a passion for simplifying access to vital satellite data for aerospace industry professionals and enthusiasts alike,” explained Hyun Seo, VP of Product at Kayhan Space and lead designer of the Satcat platform. “Industry professionals, including our in-house astrodynamics team, often rely on multiple datasets with different interfaces, scales, and units, significantly slowing them down. By unifying these diverse datasets into a single place, Satcat streamlines the research and analysis process for these professionals and beyond.”
Satcat hosts a database of over 60,000 objects that can be searched by name and NORAD/COSPAR ID or by advanced queries such as object type, launch date, country of origin, apogee, and perigee, streamlining the research and analysis of active and decayed objects in Earth’s orbit. Each object has a reference page containing detailed information such as its orbit, latest TLE update, country of origin, launch date, object type, and a 10-day visibility forecast relative to the user’s location, and currently, up to four years of historical TLE data is available for space objects. The 3D globe view provides a dynamic, real-time visual representation of these active payloads, rocket bodies, and space debris, and the Launch Stats tab allows users to stay up-to-date on upcoming launch activity.
For those looking for more advanced analytics tools, Satcat’s Sandbox feature allows users to quickly analyze satellite orbits and compare primary TLE inputs against up to 10 secondary TLEs in seconds. Satcat’s toolkit includes an ever-growing set of astrodynamics tools, such as a TLE visualizer and a multi-format time converter, designed to accelerate astrodynamicists’ work. Users are also invited to join the platform’s Discord server to share their findings with the Satcat community, request new features, and receive support.
Space weather events can pose a real risk to satellite operations, including equipment damage, orbital anomalies, and communication loss. Satcat provides users with historical, current, and forecasted information for these events measured using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Scales, offering a comprehensive look at orbital activity surrounding the Earth.
“Kayhan’s tools help analysts quickly navigate contextual data to make sense of orbital events. For example, how many objects have Chinese spaceplanes deployed? What else is in a similar orbit? These tools make it easy to answer these questions,” remarks Maj. Sean Allen, Chief of the U.S. Space Force’s SDA TAP Lab.
The release of Satcat follows Kayhan Space’s recent unveiling of Pathfinder Classroom, which offers university curriculums access to Kayhan Space’s leading space traffic coordination, autonomous conjunction assessment, and collision mitigation capabilities at a fraction of the cost. These two products support Kayhan Space’s mission to make space accessible to everyone, regardless of their level of industry expertise.