Main Object Catalogs
GCAT Release 1.5.7 (2024 Oct 18) | Data Update 2024 Nov 27Object Catalogs Organization
The General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects has eleven object catalogs and five payload catalogs, each with a different role. The object catalogs, while containing different groups of objects, all have the same format - from a relational database point of view, they could be concatenated into a single table without loss of information. The same is true of the payload catalogs. Nevertheless, I find it clearer to keep the catalogs separated.
The diagram below shows the interrelations between the different catalogs.
Each payload catalog is paired with an object catalog, but not all the object catalogs
have payload catalogs. The various catalogs are summarized in the table below. I then discuss
each catalog in general terms, and finally explain the catalog columns.
| Object Catalog | Full name | Object prefix | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Orbital Object Catalogs | |||
| satcat | Standard Satellite Catalog | S | Objects from the US Satellite Catalog |
| auxcat | Auxiliary Satellite Catalog | A | Objects omitted from the US catalog |
| ftocat | Failed Satellite Catalog | F | Objects which failed to reach orbit |
| Supporting Catalogs | |||
| lcat | Low Altitude (Endoatmospheric) Catalog | L | Objects whose apogee was less than 80 km |
| rcat | Suborbital Rocket (Exoatmospheric) Catalog | R | Objects whose apogee was 80 km or more |
| Temporary Catalogs | |||
| tmpcat | Temporary Catalog | T | Objects expected to receive an S catalog number soon |
| csocat | Complementary Space Object Catalog | C | Observed objects whose mapping to S is uncertain |
| Event Catalogs | |||
| ecat | Event Catalog | Later phases in history for objects in primary catalogs. | |
| deepcat | Deep Space Catalog | D | Objects which reached more that 150,000 km from Earth |
| hcocat | Heliocentric Register | D | Objects in heliocentric orbit |
| lprcat | Lunar and Planetary Register | D | Objects in sphere of influence of other worlds |
| Payload Catalogs | |||
| psatcat | Payload catalog | S | Payload data for payloads in satcat |
| pauxcat | Payload catalog | A | Payload data for payloads in auxcat |
| pftocat | Payload catalog | F | Payload data for payloads in ftocat |
| plcat | Payload catalog | L | Payload data for payloads in lcat |
| prcat | Payload catalog | R | Payload data for payloads in lcat |
| pdeepcat | Payload catalog | D | Payload data for payloads in deepcat which are not in other payload cats |
| Derived Catalogs | |||
| currentcat | Summary catalog | S/A | Most recent phase for each S and A object, with latest orbit data |