Making Earth's Orbit Understandable
Orbital Radar exists to provide real-time satellite tracking, space debris monitoring, and actionable space situational awareness through a transparent, accessible, and research-aligned platform — free for everyone.
Last updated:
Making Earth's orbit understandable — for researchers, educators, and the public.
What is Orbital Radar?
Orbital Radar is a live orbital intelligence platform designed to help users explore and understand the increasingly complex environment surrounding Earth. Using real-time data and advanced visualisation, the platform tracks active satellites, constellations, and space debris across multiple orbital regimes — from the International Space Station and Starlink constellation to fragmentation debris fields and re-entry candidates.
Unlike static databases or delayed reporting tools, Orbital Radar focuses on live visibility, context, and situational awareness, enabling users to observe orbital behaviour as it happens. The platform is complemented by the Orbital Academy (11 training tracks, 66 interactive lessons) and a Space Library with 180+ reference pages covering everything from launch vehicles to space agency profiles.
Our Mission
As Earth's orbit becomes more congested and contested, understanding what is happening above our planet is no longer optional. Orbital Radar's mission is to lower the barrier to orbital insight by providing tools that are both technically rigorous and intuitive to use.
We aim to support education, research, and public awareness by making orbital data accessible to educators, students, analysts, journalists, and space enthusiasts alike.
Through transparency, open exploration, and timely visibility into anomalies and debris events, Orbital Radar contributes to a safer and more sustainable future for space activity.
What we track
Orbital Radar is built around a set of core capabilities designed to give users fast, visual understanding of what is happening in orbit. Each capability links to its dedicated tool or guide.
Built for everyone
Orbital Radar is designed for a wide range of users — not just satellite operators. Whether you are teaching a class, writing a report, or simply curious about what is orbiting overhead, the platform is built to meet you where you are.
Open data, open exploration
Orbital Radar is committed to transparency about the data it uses. All orbital data, space weather feeds, and reference information are sourced from publicly available, widely cited providers in the space domain.
Data sources
- Space-Track.org — US Space Surveillance Network catalogue (TLEs)
- CelesTrak — supplementary TLEs and satellite metadata
- ESA DISCOS — debris statistics and fragmentation history
- UCS Satellite Database — ownership and purpose classification
- NOAA SWPC — solar wind, geomagnetic, and Kp index feeds
Update cadence
- Orbital elements — refreshed multiple times per day from source catalogues
- Position propagation — continuous real-time computation on every page load
- Launch schedule — synced with upstream APIs and manually curated
- Space weather — live feeds updated every few minutes
- Library content — expanded and updated regularly
Start learning
Whether you are new to orbital concepts or looking to deepen your understanding, Orbital Radar offers two complementary learning paths:
Orbital Academy
11 structured training tracks with 66 interactive lessons covering orbital mechanics, satellite tracking, space weather, debris, launch operations, and more. Progress is tracked as you go.
Space Library
180+ reference pages covering everything from individual satellite profiles to full space agency overviews, launch vehicle specs, spaceport guides, debris event archives, and the orbital glossary.
Stay connected
Keep up with new features, library additions, and orbital events:
- Orbital Radar Blog — feature announcements, analysis, and space news
- Space News RSS — subscribe to curated space news
- Library Updates RSS — get notified when new reference pages are published
- System Status — live platform health and uptime
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The live globe, all trackers, the full Space Library, and the Orbital Academy are free to use with no account required.
Orbital Radar aggregates publicly available data from Space-Track.org, CelesTrak, ESA DISCOS, UCS Satellite Database, NOAA space weather feeds, and other widely cited providers. View all data sources.
Yes. The platform is designed to support education and research. It is used by universities, space agencies, and analysts for situational awareness, teaching orbital mechanics, and public outreach.
Orbital element data is refreshed multiple times per day from source catalogues. Positions are propagated in real time so the globe always shows live motion, even between catalogue updates.
The Space Library is available in English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, and Japanese. The live globe and trackers are in English.
Orbital Radar is independently built and funded. You can support the project through a one-time or recurring donation, which helps cover server costs, data licensing, and ongoing development.