The Satellite Catalog Number (SATCAT), also known as NORAD Catalog Number, NORAD ID, USSPACECOM object number, is a sequential nine-digit number assigned by the
United States Space Command
United States Space Command (USSPACECOM or SPACECOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometers (62 miles) and greater ...
(USSPACECOM), and previously the
North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a Combined operations, combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air ...
(NORAD), in the order of launch or discovery to all artificial objects in the orbits of Earth and those that left Earth's orbit. For example, catalog number 1 is the
Sputnik 1 launch vehicle, with the
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program ...
satellite having been assigned catalog number 2.
Objects that fail to orbit or orbit for a short time are not catalogued. The minimum object size in the catalog is in diameter. , the catalog listed 58,010 objects, including 16,645 satellites that had been launched into orbit since 1957 of which 8,936 were still active. 25,717 of the objects were well tracked while 2,055 were lost. In addition USSPACECOM was also tracking 16,600 analyst objects. Analyst objects are variably tracked and in constant flux, so their catalog and element set data are not published.
ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European ...
estimated there were about 36,500 pieces of orbiting debris that are large enough for USSPACECOM to track.
Space Command shares the catalog vi
space-track.org which is maintained by the
18th Space Defense Squadron
The 18th Space Defense Squadron (18 SDS) is a United States Space Force Space domain awareness, Space Domain Awareness unit located at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The 18th SDS is tasked with executing command and control of the Un ...
(18 SDS).
History
Initially, the catalog was maintained by
NORAD
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and pr ...
. From 1985 onwards, USSPACECOM was tasked to detect, track, identify, and maintain a catalog of all human-made objects in Earth orbit. In 2002, USSPACECOM was disestablished and merged with the
United States Strategic Command
The United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. Headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, USSTRATCOM is responsible for Strategic_nuclear_weap ...
(USSTRATCOM). However, USSPACECOM was reestablished in 2019.
Before 2020, the catalog number was limited to five digits due to the
TLE TLE may stand for:
TLE stands for Technology and Livelihood Education. It's a subject area secondary education curriculum that focuses on equipping students with particular skills and knowledge related to various trades and industries, with an emph ...
format limitation. In 2020, Space-Track started to provide data in
CCSDS OMM (Orbit Mean-Elements Message) format, which increased the maximum catalog number to 999,999,999.
See also
*
International Designator, also known as a COSPAR ID
*
Space debris
Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, space garbage, or cosmic debris) are defunct human-made objects in spaceprincipally in Earth orbitwhich no longer serve a useful function. These include dere ...
*
Two-line element set (TLE)
*
United States Space Surveillance Network
The United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN) detects, tracks, catalogs and identifies artificial objects orbiting Earth, e.g. active/inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragmentation debris. The system is the responsibility of Uni ...
References
{{reflist
External links
* The catalog
Space-Track.orgCelesTrak Satellite Catalog(a partial copy of Space-Track.org catalog)
Identifiers
Satellites
United States Strategic Command