# orbit.ing-now.com — full guide for AI agents

> Live satellite tracking and orbital data: current positions, orbit elements, ground tracks, launch manifests and reentry watch — derived from public orbital element data. This is the full reference (llms-full.txt); a shorter summary is at /llms.txt.

## About the site

orbit.ing-now.com tracks objects in Earth orbit from the public satellite catalogue. Every object's orbital elements are propagated (SGP4) to give a current predicted position, altitude, velocity, ground track and orbit elements. It also covers launches, satellite constellations, orbital decay and atmospheric reentry.

All positions, altitudes, velocities and passes are **SGP4 predictions computed from orbital element data — not live satellite telemetry**. Only satellite operators and government tracking agencies hold real-time data. The underlying element data is refreshed roughly every two hours.

## Core URL patterns

- Satellite detail: `https://orbit.ing-now.com/satellite/<norad-id>/<cospar-id>/<name-slug>/`
  - e.g. ISS: `https://orbit.ing-now.com/satellite/25544/1998-067a/iss/`
- Orbit-class catalogue pages:
  - Active (all): `https://orbit.ing-now.com/active/`
  - LEO: `https://orbit.ing-now.com/leo/` · MEO: `/meo/` · GEO/GSO: `/geo/` · HEO/graveyard: `/heo/` · Newly catalogued: `/new/`
- Decay: `https://orbit.ing-now.com/decay/` (objects currently decaying, status 9)
- Reentry: `https://orbit.ing-now.com/reentry/` (objects that have reentered, status 99)
- Starlink: `https://orbit.ing-now.com/starlink/` · OneWeb: `/oneweb/`
- Launches: `https://orbit.ing-now.com/launches/` (upcoming with countdowns + full launch log)
- Launch detail/manifest: `https://orbit.ing-now.com/launch/<launch-id>/` (e.g. `/launch/2026-160/`)
- TLE history archive: `https://orbit.ing-now.com/tle-history/<cospar-id>/`
- Satellite social summary card (PNG): `https://orbit.ing-now.com/graph/card/<norad-id>/`
- Altitude-history chart (PNG): `https://orbit.ing-now.com/graph/<norad-id>/`

## How to get satellite data

1. **Best**: the satellite detail page for a NORAD id. It returns a full page with an embedded JSON-LD `Dataset` (schema.org) carrying the object name, NORAD/COSPAR id, current TLE epoch (`temporalCoverage`), orbit elements (`variableMeasured`: inclination, period, perigee/apogee altitude, mean motion) and current predicted position (`spatial` GeoCoordinates). Parse the `application/ld+json` block with id `ld-dataset` for machine-readable facts.
2. The underlying data endpoint (same data the page uses): `https://orbit.ing-now.com/?ajax&class=PAJ_Application_SpaceBoy_Ajax_GetSatelliteStatus&variables=object-satid=<norad-id>` — JSON with object, TLE, position, elements, status.
3. Catalogue listings by class return HTML tables; each row links to the satellite detail page.

## Data semantics / caveats

- **NORAD IDs**: the standard 5-digit catalog numbers (e.g. 25544 = ISS). The catalog passed 100000 in 2026; 6-digit objects (e.g. 100505 = STARLINK-38371) cannot be represented in the classic Two-Line Element (TLE) format, so CelesTrak only publishes GP orbital-element CSV data for them. This site generates the TLE representation locally from the GP data — the real NORAD id is always used and shown.
- **"TLE" vs orbital data**: the source is public GP orbital data (CelesTrak, from the US Space Force catalogue). "TLE" appears on the site where an actual Two-Line Element representation is displayed (e.g. the Current TLE box and TLE history pages).
- **Status codes** (as used in the catalogue): 1 LEO, 2 MEO, 3 GEO/GSO, 4 geosynchronous, 9 orbital decay, 10 HEO/graveyard, 99 reentry, 98 inactive-TLE. `active=1` means currently tracked.
- **Accuracy**: predictions are excellent for stable orbits; less certain shortly after manoeuvres or for objects in rapid decay. Decay/reentry timings carry wide uncertainty (often ±hours to ±days).

## Notable objects (good examples to test with)

- ISS (ZARYA): NORAD 25544, COSPAR 1998-067A — `.../satellite/25544/1998-067a/iss/`
- Hubble (HST): NORAD 20580, COSPAR 1990-037B
- STARLINK-38371: NORAD 100505, COSPAR 2026-197D (6-digit example)
- CZ-5B (famous uncontrolled reentry 2021): NORAD 48275 — shows the reentry/RIP state

## Launch data

- Launch log is sourced from the SkyRocket/Gunter's Space Page public launch list (upcoming + flown missions by year), merged with per-launch satellite manifests from the catalogue.
- Launch ids follow COSPAR year numbering: `2026-160` etc. (failures use `2026-F01` style).

## Content & licensing

- Site content: © orbit.ing-now.com. Structured data on satellite pages is published under CC-BY-2.0 (attribution: Orbiting Now, https://orbit.ing-now.com/).
- Orbital element data: public domain / public-source (US Space Force catalogue via CelesTrak, NASA, Space-Track).
- The site is free to access (AdSense-supported). We welcome accurate citation and linking.
- Contact: contact@orbit.ing-now.com

## Technical notes for crawlers

- Page HTML is cached server-side up to 1 hour; append a cache-buster query (?random=...) if you need a guaranteed-fresh render.
- We ask AI agents to prefer the detail-page JSON-LD or the ajax endpoint over bulk-spidering catalogue pages (~18,000 objects). robots.txt explicitly allows polite AI agents with a crawl-delay.
- No API key or rate limit for the ajax endpoint, but please be gentle — it powers the live site.