🛰️ CelesTrak Satellites Orbital Catalog Scraper

🚀 Export the live orbital catalog in seconds. Pull fresh element sets for tens of thousands of tracked Earth-orbiting objects across 47 satellite groups (Starlink, ISS, GPS, Galileo, OneWeb, Iridium, NOAA, debris fields, and more). No login, no API key, no manual parsing.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-05-15 · 📊 23 fields per record · 🛰️ 47 satellite groups · 🌐 Constellations, GNSS, debris, science, military

The CelesTrak Satellites Orbital Catalog Scraper pulls the official CelesTrak orbital element catalog and returns 23 fields per object, including NORAD catalog ID, international designator, epoch, inclination, eccentricity, mean motion, B* drag term, plus computed orbital period, semi-major axis, and approximate altitude. The underlying catalog is curated from the U.S. Space Force public space situational awareness feed and has been the reference orbital dataset for satellite operators, hobbyists, and academic researchers since 1985.

The catalog covers 47 curated satellite groups, including every active object, the major communications constellations (Starlink, OneWeb, Kuiper, Iridium NEXT, Globalstar, Orbcomm), all four GNSS systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou), space stations, weather and Earth-resource satellites, CubeSats, debris fields (Cosmos 2251, Iridium 33, Fengyun-1C), and the most-recent 30 days of launches. This Actor exports the lot as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML. All filters run server-side, so you skip the orbital math too.

🎯 Target Audience	💡 Primary Use Cases
Aerospace engineers, satellite operators, ground-station builders, GIS teams, OSINT analysts, astronomy hobbyists, educators	Pass prediction, conjunction screening, ground-track plotting, constellation analytics, telescope scheduling, ham-radio satellite tracking

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📋 What the CelesTrak Satellites Scraper does

Five filtering workflows in a single run:

• 🛰️ Group export. Pick any of 47 curated groups (active, Starlink, GPS, ISS, debris, weather, etc.).
• 🔍 Name search. Substring match across object name (e.g. STARLINK, ISS, NOAA).
• 🆔 Single-object lookup. Pull one object by NORAD catalog ID or COSPAR international designator.
• 📐 Inclination filter. Restrict to a specific orbital plane band (e.g. polar, sun-synchronous, equatorial).
• ⚡ Computed orbital metrics. Period in minutes, semi-major axis in km, and approximate altitude above Earth, derived per record.

Each record includes the full mean motion, eccentricity, RAAN, argument of pericenter, mean anomaly, drag term, ephemeris type, and revolution count needed to feed any SGP4 propagator.

💡 Why it matters: orbital element sets refresh constantly as ground stations track each pass. Building your own pipeline means handling the catalog format, normalizing fields, and re-pulling on a cadence. This Actor delivers a clean per-object record on every run, so your propagator stays fed.

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🎬 Full Demo

🚧 Coming soon: a 3-minute walkthrough showing how to go from sign-up to a downloaded orbital catalog.

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⚙️ Input

Input	Type	Default	Behavior
maxItems	integer	10	Records to return. Free plan caps at 10, paid plan at 1,000,000.
group	string	"active"	One of 47 curated satellite groups.
search	string	""	Case-insensitive substring filter on object name.
noradId	integer	null	Pull a single object by NORAD catalog ID (e.g. 25544 = ISS).
objectId	string	""	Pull a single object by COSPAR designator (e.g. 1998-067A).
minInclination, maxInclination	number	null	Inclination band filter, in degrees (0-180).

Example: 50 most recent Starlink satellites.

{
    "maxItems": 50,
    "group": "starlink"
}

Example: just the International Space Station.

{
    "noradId": 25544
}

⚠️ Good to Know: orbital element sets are snapshots of state at the epoch timestamp and accuracy degrades over time. For pass prediction more than a few days from epoch, refresh your dataset. The catalog also contains a small number of analyst objects whose identities are intentionally non-public.

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📊 Output

Each object record contains 23 fields. Download the dataset as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML.

🧾 Schema

Field	Type	Example
🛰️ objectName	string	"ISS (ZARYA)"
🆔 noradCatId	number	25544
🆔 objectId	string	"1998-067A"
📅 launchYear	number | null	1998
🚦 classification	string	"U"
🕒 epoch	ISO 8601	"2026-05-14T08:23:11.123Z"
📐 inclination	number	51.6403
📐 eccentricity	number	0.0006142
📐 raOfAscNode	number	123.4567
📐 argOfPericenter	number	89.0123
📐 meanAnomaly	number	271.1234
📐 meanMotion	number	15.49845678
📐 meanMotionDot	number	0.00012345
📐 meanMotionDDot	number	0
📐 bstar	number	0.000234
🔢 ephemerisType	number	0
🔢 elementSetNo	number	999
🔢 revAtEpoch	number	48123
🕒 orbitalPeriodMinutes	number	92.945
📏 semiMajorAxisKm	number	6794.123
📏 approxAltitudeKm	number	415.986
🕒 scrapedAt	ISO 8601	"2026-05-15T00:00:00.000Z"
❌ error	string | undefined	(only when a record fails)

📦 Sample records

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✨ Why choose this Actor

	Capability
🛰️	47 curated groups. From every active object down to a single debris field, all selectable from a dropdown.
🆔	Two ways to fetch a single object. NORAD catalog ID or COSPAR international designator, no group lookup needed.
📐	Server-side inclination filter. Slice the catalog into LEO polar, sun-synchronous, GTO, GEO, or any custom band.
⚡	Computed orbital metrics. Period, semi-major axis, and approximate altitude precomputed per record so you can sort by altitude without touching SGP4.
🔁	Always fresh. Every run pulls the latest element set, so your propagator works from current state.
🚫	No authentication. Works on the public CelesTrak feed. No login, no API key, no quota wall.
📦	Clean structured output. Field names, units, and types match standard space surveillance conventions.

📊 The orbital catalog is the foundation of every pass prediction, conjunction screen, and ground-track plot in modern spaceflight operations.

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📈 How it compares to alternatives

Approach	Cost	Coverage	Refresh	Filters	Setup
⭐ CelesTrak Satellites Scraper (this Actor)	$5 free credit, then pay-per-use	47 groups, 30,000+ objects	Live per run	group, NORAD ID, name, inclination	⚡ 2 min
Official Space-Track catalog	Free	Full SSC	Live	Many	🐢 Account approval + heavy parsing
Third-party paid feeds	$500+/month	High-precision	Streaming	Many	⏳ Hours
Static catalog dumps	Free	Subset	Stale	None	🕒 Variable

Pick this Actor when you want quick, filtered, propagator-ready records without managing accounts or parsers.

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🚀 How to use

1. 📝 Sign up. Create a free account with $5 credit (takes 2 minutes).
2. 🌐 Open the Actor. Go to the CelesTrak Satellites Orbital Catalog Scraper page on the Apify Store.
3. 🎯 Set input. Pick a group (or look up a single object by NORAD ID), narrow with name search or inclination filters, and set maxItems.
4. 🚀 Run it. Click Start and let the Actor collect your data.
5. 📥 Download. Grab your results in the Dataset tab as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML.

⏱️ Total time from signup to downloaded dataset: 3-5 minutes. No coding required.

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💼 Business use cases

📡 Satellite operators and ground stations Refresh tracking files before every pass Schedule downlinks against current state Detect epoch staleness across constellations Compare own-fleet inclination drift over time	🧭 Conjunction analysis and SSA Feed propagator with current LEO traffic Filter to a target altitude band for screening Track debris-field migration after fragmentation events Build proximity dashboards for executive review
📊 Constellation analytics Count active Starlink, OneWeb, Kuiper, Iridium NEXT objects Compare orbital plane spreads across providers Trend altitude band fill over months Build investor-ready slides on LEO occupation	🛰️ Earth-observation and science Pull every active weather, GOES, and Earth-resource satellite Build sun-synchronous overpass schedules Map science satellites by altitude and inclination Cross-reference geodetic and SARSAT objects

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🔌 Automating CelesTrak Satellites Scraper

Control the scraper programmatically for scheduled runs and pipeline integrations:

• 🟢 Node.js. Install the apify-client NPM package.
• 🐍 Python. Use the apify-client PyPI package.
• 📚 See the Apify API documentation for full details.

The Apify Schedules feature lets you trigger this Actor on any cron interval. Hourly or twice-daily refreshes keep your propagator state in sync with the public catalog automatically.

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🌟 Beyond business use cases

Orbital data powers more than commercial workflows. The same structured records support research, education, civic projects, and personal initiatives.

🎓 Research and academia Reproducible orbital studies with cited dataset pulls Coursework on Keplerian elements and SGP4 propagation Long-term debris-evolution analysis Cross-constellation comparative studies	🎨 Personal and creative Backyard satellite-spotting apps and pass predictors ISS-overhead notification bots for hobbyists Real-time globe visualizations and screensavers Astrophotography session planners
🤝 Non-profit and civic Open SSA dashboards for transparency Investigative journalism on orbital congestion Education programs at planetariums and museums SatNOGS community ground-station scheduling	🧪 Experimentation Train ML models on orbital-state time series Prototype collision-avoidance heuristics Build agent pipelines that resolve NORAD IDs Validate visualization concepts with live data

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🤖 Ask an AI assistant about this scraper

Open a ready-to-send prompt about this ParseForge actor in the AI of your choice:

• 💬 ChatGPT
• 🧠 Claude
• 🔍 Perplexity
• 🅒 Copilot

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

🧩 How does it work?

Pick a group (or a single NORAD ID), set optional name and inclination filters, and the Actor pulls the live element set, computes period, semi-major axis, and altitude per object, and emits one clean record per satellite. No setup, no parser engineering.

📏 How accurate are the elements?

Element sets are state snapshots at the epoch timestamp. Accuracy is high near epoch and degrades over hours to days depending on object altitude and drag. For pass prediction more than 48 hours out, refresh your dataset.

🔁 How often is the catalog refreshed?

The official catalog updates continuously as ground stations track each pass. Every Actor run pulls the latest available state.

🛰️ Which satellite groups are supported?

All 47 curated groups, including active satellites, space stations, every major broadband and narrowband constellation (Starlink, OneWeb, Kuiper, Iridium, Iridium NEXT, Globalstar, Orbcomm, Swarm), all four GNSS systems, weather, GOES, Earth resources, science, geodetic, engineering, education, military, radar, CubeSats, and three named debris fields.

🆔 Can I pull just one satellite?

Yes. Set noradId to a numeric catalog ID (e.g. 25544 for the ISS), or set objectId to a COSPAR international designator (e.g. 1998-067A). Both bypass the group filter.

⏰ Can I schedule regular runs?

Yes. Use Apify Schedules to refresh the catalog on any cron interval (hourly, twice-daily, daily) and keep downstream propagators in sync.

⚖️ Is this data legal to use?

The catalog is published as an open data feed for the international space community. Review the downstream terms of your specific use case, but raw orbital element sets are public information.

💼 Can I use this data commercially?

Yes. The underlying orbital data is public. You are responsible for complying with any downstream regulatory or export-control requirements that may apply to specific objects.

💳 Do I need a paid Apify plan to use this Actor?

No. The free Apify plan is enough for testing and small runs (10 records per run). A paid plan lifts the limit and gives you access to scheduling, higher concurrency, and larger datasets.

🔁 What happens if a run fails or gets interrupted?

Apify automatically retries transient errors. If a run still fails, you can inspect the log in the Runs tab, fix the input, and re-run. Partial datasets from failed runs are preserved so you never lose progress.

🛬 What if I need raw line-1/line-2 strings instead?

This Actor returns parsed and computed records. For raw two-line element strings, reach out via the contact form below to request a companion variant.

🆘 What if I need help?

Our support team is here to help. Contact us through the Apify platform or use the Tally form linked below.

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🔌 Integrate with any app

CelesTrak Satellites Orbital Catalog Scraper connects to any cloud service via Apify integrations:

• Make - Automate multi-step workflows
• Zapier - Connect with 5,000+ apps
• Slack - Get run notifications in your channels
• n8n - Drop runs into self-hosted workflows
• Pipedream - Trigger event-driven pipelines
• Airbyte - Pipe orbital data into your warehouse
• GitHub - Trigger runs from commits and releases
• Google Drive - Export datasets straight to Sheets

You can also use webhooks to trigger downstream actions when a run finishes. Push the catalog into your propagator, or alert your team in Slack when a constellation's pending count crosses a threshold.

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💡 Pro Tip: browse the complete ParseForge collection for more reference-data scrapers.

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🆘 Need Help? Open our contact form to request a new scraper, propose a custom data project, or report an issue.

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⚠️ Disclaimer: this Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CelesTrak, Dr. T.S. Kelso, the U.S. Space Force, or any of its data contributors. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Only publicly available open orbital data is collected.