search_satellites
Search the satellite catalog by name, operator, country, orbit class, status, object type, launch or decay dates, COSPAR, or NORAD ID, and return match counts for fleet and segment queries.
Instructions
Search the satellite catalog (UCS + Space-Track SATCAT) by name, operator, country, orbit class, status, object type, launch or decay date range, COSPAR, or NORAD id. Joined to the resolved operator entity. Every response includes total, the full number of matching objects (rows are capped at 500 per call; page with offset), so answer counting questions from total — set count_only=true to skip the rows. Combine filters in one call instead of splitting the search, e.g. a constellation's payloads launched in a given year: name=, object_type=payload, launched_after=-01-01, launched_before=-12-31, count_only=true. Use for counting a fleet or a segment, 'what does SpaceX have in LEO?', 'find NORAD 44713', or building an operator's fleet.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| name | No | Substring match on satellite name or alternate names, ignoring case, accents, spaces and punctuation (NOAA-16 matches NOAA 16 DEB) | |
| sort | No | Row order: launch_date, decay_date, name or norad, ascending; prefix - for descending (default -launch_date, newest first) | |
| limit | No | Max rows returned (default 50, max 500). total always reports the full match count regardless of limit; page with offset. Output keeps the rows that fit in about 40 KB and says how many it left out | |
| norad | No | NORAD catalog id (integer) | |
| cospar | No | COSPAR / international designator: a full one (1998-067A) matches that object; a launch designator without the piece letter (1998-067) matches every object from that launch | |
| offset | No | Rows to skip, for paging past the first limit rows (keep the same filters and sort) | |
| status | No | Orbital status: active (on orbit) or decayed; matches every catalog spelling of each | |
| country | No | Operator country as a code or name: US, China (PRC, CN), Russia (CIS, RU), UK, Japan, India, France, Germany and ~40 more match every spelling the catalog uses for that country; CIS covers the USSR and Russia. Other values match exactly, case-insensitively. International organisations keep their own codes (ESA, ITSO, EUTE, SES, GLOB, ORB) | |
| operator | No | Substring match on operator name (e.g. SpaceX); note many rows use a country code (US, CIS, PRC) as the operator | |
| entity_id | No | Filter by resolved operator entity UUID | |
| count_only | No | Return only total (the full match count), no rows. Use for any 'how many' question | |
| object_type | No | Object type: payload, rocket_body, debris, or unknown. Use payload to count satellites rather than all cataloged objects. unknown also matches ~340 merge-era rows with no type; payload/rocket_body/debris exclude them | |
| orbit_class | No | Orbit class, exact uppercase value, one of: LEO (apogee below 2,000 km), MEO (perigee above 2,000 km and apogee below 35,000 km), GEO (perigee above 35,000 km and apogee below 36,500 km), HEO (perigee below 2,000 km and apogee above 35,000 km, e.g. GTO and Molniya), OTHER (any other orbit). Objects with no known perigee/apogee have no class and match none. Any other value returns 0 rows | |
| decayed_after | No | Decay/reentry date on or after (YYYY-MM-DD); only decayed objects have a decay date, so this also limits results to decayed objects | |
| decayed_before | No | Decay/reentry date on or before (YYYY-MM-DD) | |
| launched_after | No | Launch date on or after (YYYY-MM-DD) | |
| launched_before | No | Launch date on or before (YYYY-MM-DD) |