| Metric | Value | Copy |
|---|---|---|
| {{ row.label }} | {{ row.value }} |
| # | Name | NORAD | Status | Orbit | Altitude | Epoch age | Freshness | Readiness | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{ row.rank }} | {{ row.name }} | {{ row.id }} | {{ row.status }} | {{ row.orbit }} | {{ row.altitude }} | {{ row.age }} | {{ row.freshness }} | {{ row.readiness }} |
{{ selectedTleText }}
| Action | Reason |
|---|---|
| {{ row.action }} | {{ row.reason }} |
| Run a query to generate a planning brief. | |
Satellite communications planning often begins with one plain question: is this spacecraft still a plausible target for the link or test I want to run? That answer depends on more than the satellite name alone. Orbit height, inclination, and the age of the orbital element set all change how much confidence you can place in a quick status check.
This tracker turns that triage step into a compact workflow. You can search by name, constellation keyword, or NORAD catalog number, then inspect the matched spacecraft through TLE-derived orbit metrics, freshness bands, planning-readiness labels, optional SatNOGS overlay data, and two chart views that help separate current operational candidates from stale records.
The tool is useful when you need a fast operational screen rather than a full propagation environment. A ground-station operator might want to confirm that a candidate spacecraft is in low Earth orbit and backed by a reasonably fresh TLE. A planner might compare several GEO or MEO entries by operator and orbital period before deciding which spacecraft deserves deeper link-budget work. A satellite enthusiast may simply want to know whether a search result is recent enough to trust for casual monitoring.
The extra views keep that judgment grounded. The status summary highlights orbit class, altitude, inclination, record age, freshness, and readiness. The matches table makes it easier to compare neighboring satellites. The Altitude Stack and Freshness Ladder charts show how the returned set clusters. The Link Planning Brief turns the same results into a short, action-oriented checklist for refresh cadence and overlay gaps.
The boundary is important. TLE-based screening is not the same thing as precise orbit propagation, pass prediction, or transponder verification. A recent TLE can still point to a satellite with limited or missing operational context, and an old TLE can still be useful for historical triage. This package is strongest as a first-pass status and freshness screen before you move into a fuller mission or operations workflow.
Start with the search mode that reveals the least ambiguity. A NORAD ID is the cleanest path when you already know it, because the script treats a 3 to 6 digit query as a catalog lookup. Name and constellation searches are more flexible, but they can also return near-duplicates, planned spacecraft, or historical entries that need comparison in the results table before you trust the headline badge strip.
The preset selector is there to accelerate common constellation lookups, not to lock the search. Choosing Starlink, OneWeb, Iridium, or a GEO operator preset simply loads a query pattern and an age window that fit the typical orbital family. You can still refine the search text, change the result cap, or sort by altitude, inclination, period, or freshness once the rows arrive.
Freshness controls deserve deliberate use. The policy selector sets hard guardrails for maximum tolerated age: strict caps the window at two days, balanced at seven, and archive at fourteen. The explicit day field can tighten the filter but not loosen it beyond the active policy. That makes strict useful for current operations, balanced safer for general planning, and archive better for historical or degraded-data triage.
SatNOGS overlay is a second layer rather than a replacement for the orbital record. When enabled, it can add status, operator, and country fields, and the optional active-only filter can exclude entries SatNOGS marks as dead or re-entered. That is helpful when you need operational context, but the package also warns when SatNOGS coverage is partial or unavailable so you do not mistake a missing overlay for a clean bill of health.
Use the tabs according to the job. The summary and matches table are for quick screening. Altitude Stack helps compare orbital families. Freshness Ladder is the fastest way to see which results are aging out of trust. Link Planning Brief is for next-step guidance, especially around stale elements, over-eager polling, and missing overlay context. JSON export is the right choice when you need to hand the run to another tool or archive the exact state.
The core input is a Two-Line Element set. The package pulls public TLE search results, deduplicates them by satellite ID, parses the second TLE line, and extracts inclination, eccentricity, and mean motion. Mean motion is then converted into orbital period and an approximate altitude through a circular-orbit Keplerian estimate using fixed Earth constants.
The altitude and period values are used for quick classification, not precision ephemeris work. Orbit class is assigned from the derived altitude using fixed thresholds: below 2,000 km is labeled LEO, values below the GEO belt tolerance are labeled MEO, altitudes within roughly plus or minus 800 km of geostationary height are labeled GEO belt, and higher values are grouped into HEO. For planning screens that is usually enough, but those labels should not be treated as a substitute for full propagation.
Freshness is derived from TLE epoch age in days, while readiness is a slightly more action-oriented translation of that age. The script keeps both because stale data and unusable planning posture are related but not identical concepts. A fresh entry can still lack SatNOGS context. An archive-grade entry may still be worth keeping in a historical comparison set. The brief tab uses those age buckets plus overlay coverage to decide which actions to surface first.
Optional SatNOGS enrichment happens after the TLE parse, not before it. If enabled, the package fetches operator, country, and health-style status labels from SatNOGS DB and merges them into each enriched row where possible. The active-only switch then filters out entries that the overlay marks as dead or re-entered. When the overlay partially fails, the tool leaves the orbital metrics intact and displays a hint that you are looking at TLE-only data for part of the result set.
The export surfaces all come from the same enriched row collection. The status and matches tables can be copied or downloaded as CSV and exported to DOCX. The altitude and freshness charts can be saved as PNG, WebP, JPEG, or CSV. The JSON pane bundles inputs, the selected entry, and the processed result set, while the TLE download preserves the current element lines for the selected spacecraft as a plain-text file.
| Policy | Maximum effective age | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Strict | 2 days | Near-current planning where stale elements should be discarded quickly |
| Balanced | 7 days | General planning and moderate-refresh operational reviews |
| Archive | 14 days | Historical triage and degraded-data comparison work |
| Surface | What it emphasizes | Exports available |
|---|---|---|
| Status summary and matches | Orbit class, altitude, inclination, freshness, readiness, and overlay context | CSV copy, CSV download, DOCX export, and selected-row copy or TLE download |
| Altitude Stack | Relative altitude clustering across the current result set | PNG, WebP, JPEG, and CSV |
| Freshness Ladder | Age and readiness gradient across current results | PNG, WebP, JPEG, and CSV |
| Link Planning Brief | Actionable guidance around stale data, polling cadence, and overlay gaps | Included in JSON bundle |
| JSON | Inputs, selected record, and processed satellite rows | Clipboard copy and JSON download |
The most trustworthy reading comes from the combination of orbit class, altitude, and freshness, not from any single badge. A GEO-looking altitude with a stale TLE is still a stale planning input. A fresh low-altitude result with no overlay context can still be the right satellite for the next check, but it deserves another source before you make an operational claim about health or ownership.
The readiness badge is meant to speed decisions, not replace judgment. It compresses element age into a planning shorthand, while the freshness band keeps the underlying age story visible. If the two seem overly optimistic or conservative for your use case, the correct response is to review epoch age and policy, not to treat the label as final truth.
The planning brief should be read as triage guidance. It is especially useful for telling you when stale records dominate the result set, when auto-refresh is faster than the public data source is likely to improve, or when SatNOGS gaps mean a second source is needed. That makes it a handoff aid, not a mission-control screen.
A station operator searches for a Starlink spacecraft by name, keeps the strict freshness policy, and enables SatNOGS overlay. The useful outcome is not just a LEO label. It is the combination of a plausible low altitude, a recent TLE, and any available operational context before deeper pass-planning begins.
A planner loads a GEO operator preset and sorts by freshness. The Freshness Ladder quickly shows which rows are aging out of confidence, while the brief warns if refresh cadence is tighter than the source update pattern is likely to justify. That helps decide whether to keep polling or move into archive-style comparison instead.
A user searches a constellation keyword and receives several near-matches. Sorting by inclination and period, then opening Altitude Stack, makes it easier to tell whether the set is clustered in one orbital family or mixed across different shells. That matters when the next task is narrowing a candidate list rather than validating a single spacecraft.
No. It proves only that the orbital elements are recent enough for the current freshness policy. Operational status still depends on context outside the TLE itself.
Because it depends on SatNOGS overlay data. Without that overlay, the package has no external alive or dead flag to apply.
The tool derives altitude from mean motion with a simplified orbital estimate that is good for sorting and sanity checks, not for precision ephemeris work.
It translates the current result mix into concrete next-step guidance about stale data, polling cadence, and missing overlay context.