GCAT Release 1.5.5 (2024 May 5) | Data Update 2024 Jun 29
Geostationary Orbit Catalog Column Descriptions
The
GEO catalog
lists objects in or near geosynchronous orbit.
Objects are entered in the GEO catalog if at any time in their careers their orbital period
is in the near-geosynchronous ring (NGEO)
between 23 hours (1380 min) and 25 hours (1500 min).
The file gives latest available orbital information.
Fields are:
- (1) JCAT - NORAD number
- (2) Piece - COSPAR designation
- (3) Name
- (4) LDate - Launch date UTC
- (5) GDate - Date entering NGEO region
- (6) ODate - Date and time (UTC) epoch of orbital data
- (7) Period - Orbital period in min
- (8) Perigee in km
- (9) Apogee in km
- (10) Inc - Inclination to equator of date, deg
- (11) OType - Orbit type see orbits.html for definitions
- (12) Longitude - Approximate longitude at epoch
- (13) Drift Rate - Approximate longitude drift rate, direction in degrees per day
- (14) TDate: Estimated end-of-life date, or date permanently leaving extended NGE
- (15) T: Object type: P = payload, R = rocket stage, C = component, D = debris
- (16) Flag (not currently documented)
Note that an object may be in the list because its orbit code was transiently one of the GEO/ ones for a
early phase of the mission - an example is the CAPSTONE probe.