Data Standards
Satcat services use many standards and conventions in line with the 18/19 SDS Spaceflight Safety and NASA Spacecraft CA and COLA Best Practices handbooks. The specifics of the standards for file uploads, data entry, and reference frames have been collected here for reference. Additional resources can be found in the Key Concepts section.
Operator Data
- Operational Data: the ephemeris operators upload, the metadata that determines how Satcat uses it, the CDM types it produces, and how Satcat designates an event's Best CDM.
- Ephemeris Metadata: the Context and Designation carried by every uploaded ephemeris, which together determine how Satcat uses the data and what is shared with other operators.
Risk and Quality
- Risk Metrics: the standardized metrics computed for each conjunction and maneuver tradespace, including probability of collision, miss distance, and Mahalanobis distance.
- Pc Dilution: why nominal Pc can understate risk in a high-uncertainty conjunction, and how Satcat reports Maximum Pc alongside it.
- OD Quality Ratings: how Satcat rates the orbit determination behind each state estimate in a CDM, so an operator can tell whether a risk metric is worth acting on.
- Risk Levels: the severity Satcat assigns a conjunction event, set by comparing its risk metrics against thresholds the organization defines.
Formats and Products
- Reference Frames: the frames Satcat accepts, with a frame transformation diagram, developed and validated against IERS Conventions 2010.
- File Formats: the formats used to share RSO trajectories and covariance, avoidance maneuvers, operational CDMs, and conjunction data messages.
- Analytics Products: the interactive plots, charts, and tables used across Satcat services, and how to read each one.