The SatType string can be found in the table column called simply `Type'.
For each object, the SatType string in the entry for the first phase for that object
applies to the whole history of the object. If the type is different in a later phase, that's
probably a data entry error.
The byte layout is as follows:
| Byte | Contents |
|---|---|
| Byte 1 | Coarse Type (payload, rocket, debris) |
| Byte 2 | Type modifier |
| Byte 3 | Attach flag |
| Byte 4 | Subtype |
| Byte 5 | Orbit flag |
| Byte 6 | Human spaceflight subset |
| Byte 7 | UN registration flag |
| Byte 8 | Failure flag |
| Byte 9 | Uncertain ID flag |
| Byte 10 | Annotation flag |
| Byte 11 | Group control flag |
| Byte 12: Not yet used |
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| P | Payload (for orbital attempt) |
| C | Component |
| R | Launch vehicle stage |
| D | Fragmentation debris |
| S | Suborbital payload (e.g. sounding rocket payload or missile reentry vehicle) |
| X | Catalog entry that has been deleted (used in auxcat etc.) |
| Z | Spurious catalog entry (was in SATCAT, perhaps in TLEs, but there was no real object) |
The Byte 2 entries modify the Byte 1 entries (and are not independent of them).
Here I tabulate the combined byte 1/2 values and their meanings.
(cases where byte 2 is blank are not listed).
| Byte 1-2 Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| PA | Alias entry. |
| PH | Spaceship with humans aboard at launch. |
| SH | Spaceship with humans aboard at launch (suborbital). |
| SX | Suborbital, special cases not currently further defined |
| PP or CP or SP | Spaceship with pressurized cabin, but without humans at launch. |
| PX: Not in standard list of satellites. | |
| R1 to R5 | Stage number for launch vehicle stage. |
| CC | Cargo placeholder for mass accounting. |
| CX | Component not to be included in certain standard lists |
| CD | Deployer for separately integrated payload |
PA: The A (alias) modifier is used for special records representing a phase where the satellite
is leased temporarily or jointly owned. This phase type is special in that its
time period overlaps another phase. An example is object S23779 (Palapa C1, renamed HGS-3
in Nov 2000) From Dec 2000 to Jan 2003 its capacity was leased to Turk Telecom
which called it Anatolia 1. The HGS-3 entry is tagged with SatFlag equal to P (standard
payload) while the Anatolia 1 entry covering an overlapping time period
is tagged with SatFlag equal to PA
to denote that it's a secondary or alias entry that may be ignored.
PP: The P modifier is used for spaceship test flights without crews, pressurized sections
of cargo ships, and space station modules.
PX: The X modifier is used to denote `non-standard payloads'. What is a payload and what
is just a component? I take a broader view of `payload' than most satellite lists do.
Some examples of `PX' types:
CC is used for `down cargo' for space stations
returned to Earth or destroyed in cargo ship reentry.
Note that we usually don't know the launch date of `down cargo'.
The D modifier (CD) is used for separately integrated deployers.
The D flag has been added to reflect the emergence of intermediary companies
like Nanoracks and Spaceflight which sit between the payload owner and the launch provider
and manage the integration of customer payloads
Note that byte 4 has a V value for 'deployer/clamp band' which is more general and does not
imply a separate integration - it includes things like the CRRES canisters
or the Shuttle PAM-D ASE. (Well, it's an interesting question whether those count as equivalent
to a Nanoracks deployer, but I think the hardware and integration were done by NASA - I could be wrong.)
Objects with a D flag in byte 2 are usually not separate satellites but attached to a parent object
(e.g. launch vehicle stage). They are therefore usually in the A (auxiliary) catalog.
| Byte 3 Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A | Permanently attached component or payload |
| F | Stuck attached by mistake |
| S | Expected to separate in future |
| T | Never flew free but transferred |
| I | Internal |
F indicates that the object was intended to separate but failed to do so.
S denotes that the object is expected to separate at a later date.
T is mostly used for hardware that is transferred from the exterior of
one object to another during a spacewalk or using robotic arms.
I is used for entries representing hardware that remains internal to
one or more host spacecraft, possibly being transferred between them.
Entries of this sort that I keep track of include EVA spacesuits not actually
used on an EVA; cubesat dispensers used on ISS; and special entries used
to do mass accounting of upward and downward space station cargo.
In the future I'm considered adding entries for human space travellers, who
would also be internal (either to a spaceship or a spacesuit).
| Value | Meaning | Allowed B1 values |
|---|---|---|
| A | Payload adapter (e.g. SYLDA)., support structures, interfaces | C |
| B | Battery explosion debris | D |
| C | Passive calibration satellites, test objects or chaff | P, C |
| D | Dummy satellite | P |
| E | Spacesuit on tethered spacewalk | P (PX) |
| F | Fairings and other covers | C |
| G | General, miscellaneous debris | C, D |
| H | Human spaceflight related | P,C |
| I | Impact (accidental collision) | D |
| J | Anomalous debris (insulation, soft material, ablated material) | C, D |
| K | Possible solid motor slag | D |
| L | Separated from vehicle after landing (rovers, etc) | P, C |
| M | Jettisoned motor or tank | C |
| N | Nuclear reactor core or coolant blob | C, D |
| O | Unknown debris released at orbit insertion | |
| P | Propulsion related, residual-propellant breakup | D |
| Q | Aerodynamic breakup at low perigee | D |
| R | Reentry vehicle | P |
| S | Subsatellite or subpayload | P |
| T | Ejected section of payload | C |
| U | Untethered EVA | P (PX) |
| V | Ejection mechanism (deploy canister, clamp band) | C |
| W | Weapons test, ASAT debris | D |
| X | Debris of unknown nature | C, D |
| Y | Despin (yo-yo) device | C |
| Z | Breakup debris from on-board destruct device | D |
| Value | meaning |
|---|---|
| D | Deep Space or escape |
| E | Destroyed in pad explosion |
| F | Failed to reach orbit |
| L | Active on planet surface during this phase |
| M | Missing from SATCAT by mistake (EXPRESS, IXV) |
| O | Orbital-Energy but Non-Orbit |
| P | Partial orbit - reached legit orbit but deorbited after less than 1 rev |
| R | Reentry orbit: objects that were attached and separated in post-deorbit-burn suborbital trajectory |
| S | Near-Orbit (marginally suborbital) |
| T | Transient orbit - separated just (perhaps seconds) before deorbit |
| V | Escape energy but not deep space |
| X | Extra catalog entry for extraterrestrially launched object |
| Z | Launch from extraterrestrial object, recataloged with new D series number. |
| Value | meaning |
|---|---|
| I | Station program, general |
| C | Station major non-module component |
| D | Station deployable subsatellite |
| E | Station EVA related equipment |
| G | Pseudo-entry used for station generic cargo mass accounting |
| M | Station module |
| S | Space Shuttle program or Shuttle payload or component |
| T | Piece of visiting vehicle |
| U | Visiting vehicle or rocket stage deployed satellite |
| V | Station visiting vehicle |
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| U | Is, or should be, UN registered even though not a standard payload. |
| X | Was UN registered but should not have been. |
For example, object A06499, the Canadarm-2 on the ISS, is not a standard payload and has
no SATCAT entry. Nevertheless it was registered with the UN.
A05668 Fasat-Alfa was a satellite that failed to separate from its
parent satellite. It doesn't have a separate SATCAT number from its parent
S23657 Sich-1, so it is a `PX' nonstandard payload; but it was registered by Chile, while Sich-1 was registered by Ukraine.
Byte 7 is set to U.
Object A05597 EXPRESS completed several orbits of the Earth. It is a
`PX' nonstandard payload because the US tracking system failed to
catch it, and it doesn't have a SATCAT number. Nevertheless Germany should
have registered it with the UN and did not. Byte 7 is set to U.
On the other hand, A06874 Celestis-04 Error was registered with the UN
but should not have been, since it was removed from the rocket before launch
and never got to space. Byte 7 is set to X.
Object A07634 ELC-1 is a logistics carrier launched on the Shuttle
and later attached to the ISS. Although the US has usually
registered ISS pressurized modules, other similar minor ISS components
(such as the other ELCs and the major truss segments) have not been registered,
so for consistency ELC-1 shouldn't have been registered either. Byte 7 is set to X.
For a debris object, a numeric value in this field (1,2, etc) groups objects in a particular
debris cloud for a launch which has multiple associated debris events. (I have only used this a few times.)
Other values indicate different kinds of payload failure (or success) and have been added to support
analysis of the Starlink constellation.
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| * | This object was the one that failed during launch. |
| A | Satellite ascending: orbit raising to op orbit (or lowering from high drift orbit) |
| D | Satellite in plane drift orbit |
| F | Satellite failed early in mission, before reaching operational orbit ("screened") |
| G | Satellite retired to a graveyard orbit of some kind |
| L | Satellite removed far from operational constellation by lowering or raising orbit |
| M | Satellite failed in operational orbit and is undergoing uncontrolled decay - non manueverable |
| O | Satellite is active in operational orbit |
| R | Satellite reentered after active orbit lowering |
| S | Satellite was used for special tests outside of main constellation |
| T | Satellite removed slighly (and possibly temporarily) from operational constellation by lowering or raising orbit a little |
| U | Satellite apparently malfunctioning, held in intermediate orbit for debugging? |
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ? | The association of this satellite with this catalog number is a guess because JSpOC has not yet assigned a name. ID may change in future. |
| + | Starlink filing with FCC reports this satellite is out of service but could still maneuver, at the time of filing. |
| * | Starlink filing with FCC reports this satellite is out of service and can not maneuver. |
| m | Multiple objects. This entry is a placeholder for a known debris event where no debris has yet been cataloged by DoD. |
| C | US government orbital data for this object are secret. |
| c | Older US government orbital data for this object were secret, but current data is public. |
| U | This object is a cargo item on ISS (or other station) and has been assigned to a likely cargo launch but the actual launch for this object is not known. |
| D | This object is a cargo item on ISS (or other station). The return date is uncertain and I've made a guess at which ship it went down on. |
| X | We don't know which launch this object is from, so the launch date is unknown (and other parameters may also be unknown). |
| s | Disagreement between TLE and SupTLE data (true for S45139) |
At present, possible values of this byte are r,g,b,c,m,y,k indicating
colors chosen for data associated with the specific satellite in automated plots,
e.g. of altitude vs time.
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| + | Object included in debris cloud analysis |
| - | Debris object not counted as part of debris cloud |