In GCAT, each entry in the S catalog (Standard Satellite Catalog or satcat) corresponds directly
to the corresponding entry in the US catalog; entry S00001 corresponds to SSN 1, entry S40000 corresponds to
SSN 40000. The S catalog contains additional metadata not present in the US catalog, described later in this chapter.
Note that I will use SATCAT in upper case to refer to the US catalog, while the lower case version will always
refer to GCAT's S catalog.
By convention I render entries 1-99999 in each catalog with 5 digits, in this case S00001 to S99999.
I then jump to 9 digits for objects 000100000 onwards (S000100000 in this case). I am optimistic
that we won't reach S999999999 before I retire, so that'll be Somebody Else's Problem.
There are, as always, complications. Not infrequently, the SSN numbers associated with two space objects are swapped,
or an SSN number is reassigned to a different object and the previously assigned object is now not in the catalog.
However, archival TLE (Two Line Element) sets for the previous object remain associated with the same catalog number,
potentially causing confusion. Although I would rather not reassign numbers, in the interests of practical
compatibility the S catalog entry corresponds to the object MOST RECENTLY ASSOCIATED with that catalog number (and
the GCAT is updated as required to reflect this).
The SSN number is really associated with an object tracked by the US space tracking team (currently the 18th Space
Control Squadron and associated organizations). The set of TLEs associated with that catalog number, for the most part,
define the SSN. The association of that catalog number with a physical object (satellite, rocket, debris) is an inference.
Sometimes I disagree with the association made, and the S catalog reflects that. The harder problem is when you
have, say, 3 SSN tracked objects and three known payloads, but you have no idea which is which. This can occur,
for example, when three externally similar cubesats deployed from the same vehicle immediately fail, so even the satellite owners don't know
which is which. In this case the SATCAT will just have them as 'OBJECT C', etc., and not attempt to make an identification.
I prefer to make an arbitrary assignment of the three objects to catalog numbers but flag the assignments as uncertain.
This lets me enter all the metadata such as country, owner, name etc. and so statistical counts such as number of payloads
associated with a given country will come out right.
Some satellites are made up of several attached sections. When I deem that these separate sections are of sufficient
interest to deserve their own catalog entry (for example because their metadata are interestingly different) I
create additional entries in the auxcat (see below), and choose one of the sections to be associated with the S entry.
As an example, for CORONA satellites both the CORONA payload and the attached Agena rocket stage, as well as any
Agena aft rack attached payloads, get catalog entries. In such cases the S entry is given to the payload;
metadata includes the information that the CORONA and the Agena remained attached until reentry.
The SATCAT associates debris objects with a particular launch but does not identify them in detail; again, I make my best guess as to the nature and origin of
particular debris objects.
The US catalog is coy about certain military and intelligence satellites belonging to the US and its allies. Usually a cover name (e.g. USA 304)
and a launch date are provided, but no orbital data or reentry date. Since I do not have access to secret information, I am free to speculate.
Usually it's not very hard and identifications of secret satellites with particular programs and orbits mostly have a high degree of confidence.
The auxcat contains entries for objects not in the standard catalog. The catalog numbers have the prefix 'A', so the
first entry is A00001.
Objects end up in the A catalog for a variety of reasons:
Sometimes objects already in the A catalog get a US SATCAT number - for example, external ISS experiments which are unexpectedly discarded into orbit
at the end of their lives. In this case the object is moved to the S catalog, and its A catalog number is retired. In previous internal use
of the catalog I've reused such freed A catalog entries, but with the formal release of GCAT it is my intent that any such reassigments
will be recorded formally and the empty catalog entries will not be reused.
When it is clear that an object is likely to receive a SATCAT number in the near future, it is placed in the T catalog (see below) instead of
the A catalog.
The ftocat (F, Failure to orbit catalog) contains objects from failed launches which were expected to have had satellite catalog entries
if the launch had been successful. The objects are upper stages and payloads from launches with `F' launch designations (e.g. 1959-F01).
Note that objects from `U' marginal-orbit launches (1959-U01 etc) are in the auxcat rather than the ftocat. Objects from pad explosions
(`E' launches where no actual launch occured) are in the lcat.
I have gone to some trouble to estimate the best-guess suborbital perigee, apogee and inclination for the objects in the F catalog.
If you have better data for a particular launch, please let me know.
The rcat contains objects whose apogee was probably above 80 km but which did not reach orbit (i.e. are not included in the orbital catalogs).
The main purpose of the rcat is to record suborbital stages of orbit launch vehicles, allowing me to specify the detailed configuration of that particular
flight vehicle - it gives me a place to put the type and serial number of the stages. Other metadata - mass, size, (sub)orbital parameters -
are sometimes included but typically with approximate or guessed values. Orbital inclination values of zero should be ignored.
Object associated with suborbital launches are also included. The catalog is not complete in this respect and the caveats on the quality of the metadata
for such objects apply even more strongly. But it gives me a place to store parameters of sounding rocket and missile payloads when I know them.
The lcat contains objects whose apogee was probably below 80 km.
Like the rcat, the main purpose of the lcat is to record the stage configuration of orbital launches, serving as a place to store the
details of lower stages (first stage, strap-on boosters, etc) that did not leave the atmosphere. As for the rcat, but even more so, metadata on mass, size and trajectory
are approximate or guessed and should usually be treated with skepticism. (For a few cases, such as Apollo-Saturn lower stages, the data are accurate.)
Mostly the lcat is used to store low altitude objects associated with a launch which also had exoatmospheric parts.
However, some objects associated with purely endoatmospheric and mesospheric launches are included. Nevertheless, the presence of a low altitude
launch in the launch lists does not guarantee its associated objects will exist in the lcat.
As noted above under ftocat, objects from launches which exploded on the pad are also included in the lcat.
Unlike the main catalogs, the catalog numbers in the T and C catalogs
are not assigned sequentially. Currently the first
object in the C catalog is C00100.
The tmpcat contains objects which are (1) in orbit, and (2) do not have US satellite catalog numbers but are expected to get
them in the fairly near future. This usually means objects which are aboard the ISS or a cargo ship and slated for later
deployment, such as cubesats to be ejected from the Kibo module; or subsatellites to be ejected from another satellite;
or objects such as the Crew Dragon Trunk which is left in orbit at the end of a Crew Dragon mission. Starlink and other
megaconstellation satellites may also
receive T numbers based on the 70000-series numbers used by Celestrak Supplemental TLEs before identifications are made with the SATCAT numbers.
When the T catalog object does get a US SATCAT number, its GCAT identifier is changed. The object is added to the S catalog, and its
T catalog number is removed (and later reassigned). Users should therefore beware of referring to T catalog numbers - they are ephemeral
and their reassignment is not formally recorded. They are a compromise, allowing the instantaneous catalog to reflect the state of things
as well as possible, while avoiding reassigning any `permanent' catalog entries.
Objects which may never get catalog numbers - such as known objects which nevertheless have not been tracked - are instead
put in the auxcat as described above.
(I will admit that the `C' originally stood for Canadian Space Society, the initial source of hobbyist TLEs in the 1990s thanks to Ted Molczan).
Since the objects in the C catalog may or may not be also present in the S catalog, I do not include C catalog objects in my
statistical summaries (of numbers of satellites launched, etc.).
C catalog entries are initially assigned the value NNA (No Number Assigned) in the Satcat number field (see column descriptions).
Then, when and if a C catalog object is later identified with an S catalog entry, the actual SATCAT number is placed in the field
to flag that the object is no longer `unaffiliated'. The user may therefore ignore all C catalog entries whose Satcat number is not
'NNA'.
Types of objects in the C catalog include (with catalog number ranges used as of mid-2020, but not guaranteed to be rigidly adhered to):
Since the objects in the C catalog are often of unknown origin, the launch dates and international desigations in the catalog are meaningless and
should be ignored. The orbital metadata, however, are based on actual data.
We introduce the idea that each object in GCAT has a history composed of multiple `phases'. A new phase typically begins
with either separation from a parent or attachment to a new parent. Parents may be GCAT objects or GCAT bodies (worlds).
Another kind of phase is less physical: the object changes critical metadata - either its name or its owner.
For a typical object, there is only
one phase, which begins with separation from the parent object and ends with reentry - or is still in progress. But
for some objects there are many phases involving renaming, on-orbit resale, docking and undocking, some other form of attachement to
another object (e.g. EVA assembly), bringing inside or outside a space station, entering deep space, entering or leaving the gravitational sphere of influence of a new central body,
landing or taking off from such a body, or returning to the Earth-Moon system. Each such phase can be
characterized by:
The details of phases are captured in the phase-ending event type, which is stored in the `status' field of each phase record.
The various options are defined in detail in the status column description.
Objects which pass the EL1:4 deep space boundary at about 150,000 km from Earth are given a `D' catalog designation in addition to their
entries in the S or A catalogs. The S or A catalog uses the decay date, status and destination fields to record
the object's transition to deep space and its new catalog number. The corresponding DeepCat entry
records the object's arrival in deep space and its departure to its next phase - reentry, entry to the lunar sphere
of influence, or departure from the Earth-Moon system. The Heliocentric Register and the Lunar and Planetary Register
then record subsequent phases of the object as it visits different bodies in the solar system, using its D catalog designation.
I recognize that the reassignment of a new catalog number to an object once it leaves Earth orbit may
be inconvenient. A crossindex between D designations and S/A designations is provided at
https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/data/cat/deepindex.html
The research behind the separate release of the Deep Space Catalog is discussed more fully at
https://planet4589.org/space/deepcat
.
While I consider it a part of the General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects, it is a relatively
self contained subset and is documented and published on an independent release schedule. The deepcat files
within GCAT are kept more up to date.
For example, GCAT object A00489 appears in the main catalog `auxcat'. It
also has a record in the corresponding payload catalog `pauxcat' with
the additional payload metadata. The payload catalogs have the same name
as the corresponding main catalog, except with a leading 'p', so it's
pretty easy.
The payload catalogs are psatcat, pauxcat, pftocat and ptmpcat. In addition
there is a plcat corresponding to the lcat, containing limited payload info for
a few payloads for launches which exploded on the pad and so didn't make it into ftocat,
and similarly prcat and pdeepcat for some special cases in rcat and deepcat.
Of greatest interest is probably the end-of-life date information in psatcat, since a comprehensive
satellite operational lifetime dataset has never before been published. The psatcat
also is useful for statstical analyses since it characterizes satellites as nonprofit, commercial,
civil or defense, and as communications, imaging, navigation, science, etc.
The file is a simple text file with two columns, the GCAT
catalog identifier and the unicode satellite name.
It is in alphabetical order of GCAT identifier, so auxcat
entries precede satcat ones.
The catalog contains a subset of the fields in satcat, and a couple of new fields:
the
Active flag
which is 'A' if the object is a currently active payload, and the first character of SatType (i.e. P for payload, R for rocket, C for component or D for debris) otherwise.
and the
extended status
field which decodes the Status field information into a more readble text field.
Space probes have two catalog IDs, the regular JCAT for their near-earth launch phase and
a Deep Space Catalog ID beginning with `D'. The currentcat has a DeepCat column which gives the `D' identifier
for the object if one exists, corresponding to the object's JCAT field in the deepcat file.
There is one set of data not in the other catalogs: for objects
currently in Earth orbit, the most recent available orbital data are
provided in currentcat rather than the 'canonical' early orbit data provided in, e.g., satcat.