OrbitalWiki API
68
AI ReadinessAI-Aware (B+)68/100
Official vendor OpenAPI document · agent-readyMaps GeolocationMappingbearer, apiKey15 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Look up satellites by NORAD catalog ID, fetch their current TLE or OMM elements, search and filter the orbital catalogue, and list operators, launches, and re-entries.
Use for: Get the current TLE for the ISS, NORAD 25544, List all operational satellites in geostationary orbit, Search for satellites operated by a given country, Find all objects that have re-entered recently
Not supported: Does not predict passes over a location, provide conjunction warnings, or support operational flight dynamics. Use for reading satellite catalogue records, TLE and OMM elements, and orbital datasets only.
The OrbitalWiki API serves a read-only catalogue of satellites and other orbital objects, with every record credited to its source: CelesTrak OMM and SATCAT, GCAT by Jonathan McDowell, Wikidata, and SatNOGS DB. It looks up an object by NORAD catalog ID and returns its current TLE or CCSDS OMM mean elements, filters the catalogue by orbit_class, status, object_class, and country, and lists operators with their satellites. Re-entries, recent catalogue change events, launches, and bulk dataset slices such as active-payloads or starlink in CSV or JSON round out the surface. Orbital data is approximate and not for operational use.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the OrbitalWiki API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the OrbitalWiki API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Forbitalwiki.com%2Forbitalwiki" | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Forbitalwiki.com%2Forbitalwiki" | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with OrbitalWiki API.
Fetch a satellite's record, current TLE, or CCSDS OMM mean elements by NORAD catalog ID
Filter the catalogue by orbit_class such as LEO, GEO, or SSO, by status, object_class, country, or active flag
Search satellites by name, alias, NORAD ID, COSPAR ID, operator, or country
List satellite operators and open one operator's satellite list by slug
Track decayed objects and recent catalogue change events since a given time
Download dataset slices such as all, active-payloads, or starlink in CSV or JSON
Use Cases
Patterns agents use OrbitalWiki API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Satellite questions answered by an AI agent through Jentic
An AI agent asked about a satellite can answer from catalogue data instead of memory. Through Jentic it searches for 'get the current TLE for a satellite', loads the OrbitalWiki operation with its input schema, and calls it with the NORAD catalog ID. Catalogue reads work without a key at a small daily allowance, and a free key stored once raises it, with the key injected at call time.
Call GET /satellites/25544 for the record and GET /satellites/25544/tle for the current TLE, then summarise the satellite's operator and orbit class
Orbit-class and status filtering for research
Researchers counting active payloads in a regime need structured filters, not scraping. GET /satellites accepts orbit_class values including LEO, MEO, GEO, HEO, SSO, and VLEO, status values such as OPERATIONAL or DECAYED, object_class values such as PAYLOAD, ROCKET_BODY, or DEBRIS, plus country, with limit up to 100 per page.
Page GET /satellites with orbit_class 'GEO', status 'OPERATIONAL', and object_class 'PAYLOAD' at limit 100 and count the results by country
Re-entry and catalogue change monitoring
A space-news bot watches for objects coming down and catalogue updates. GET /reentries lists DECAYED objects by catalogue update time, and GET /events returns recent catalogue change events filtered by a since timestamp, so the bot can post new re-entries without diffing full datasets.
Call GET /events with since set to 24 hours ago and GET /reentries with limit 20, then report any objects that decayed in that window
Bulk orbital datasets for visualisation
Orbit visualisers need every object's elements at once. GET /elements returns mean elements for every active object as parallel arrays, and GET /dataset/{slice} downloads the all, active-payloads, or starlink slice in CSV or JSON using Union of Concerned Scientists column names.
Download GET /dataset/starlink with format 'json' and count the objects in the slice
Key Endpoints
15 endpoints — the orbitalwiki api serves a read-only catalogue of satellites and other orbital objects, with every record credited to its source: celestrak omm and satcat, gcat by jonathan mcdowell, wikidata, and satnogs db.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/satellites
List and filter satellites
GET
/satellites/{norad_cat_id}
Get a satellite by NORAD catalog ID
GET
/satellites/{norad_cat_id}/tle
Get the current TLE
GET
/satellites/{norad_cat_id}/omm
Get the current OMM
GET
/search
Search satellites
GET
/reentries
List decayed objects
GET
/dataset/{slice}
Download a dataset slice
GET
/satellites
List and filter satellites
GET
/satellites/{norad_cat_id}
Get a satellite by NORAD catalog ID
GET
/satellites/{norad_cat_id}/tle
Get the current TLE
GET
/satellites/{norad_cat_id}/omm
Get the current OMM
GET
/search
Search satellites
GET
/reentries
List decayed objects
GET
/dataset/{slice}
Download a dataset slice
Jentic AI Readiness Score
This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use.
O
OrbitalWiki API
- AI-Aware (B+)68/100
99
Foundational Compliance66
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility50
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience94
Agent Usability55
Security74
AI DiscoverabilityPowered by JenticScoring Framework 1.0.0 | Scoring Engine 0.4.2
Show dimension breakdown
99
Foundational Compliance
Base layer of spec validity and structural soundness.
Grade: A+Signals: 4
97%
Lint Results
Aggregated quality score from linter diagnostics, weighted by severity.
100%
Resolution Completeness
Percentage of `$ref` references that resolve successfully.
100%
Specification Validity
Checks whether the API description parses successfully and conforms to its declared specification (e.g., OpenAPI).
100%
Structural Integrity
Structural correctness score based on schema issues using logarithmic dampening.
66
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility
Clarity, completeness, and ingestion readiness for developers and tooling.
Grade: BSignals: 4
0%
Example Density
How richly the API is illustrated with examples.
100%
Example Validity
Percentage of examples that conform to their schemas.
63%
Response Coverage
Percentage of operations with complete response definitions (success, client error, server error).
100%
Tooling Readiness
Health of API ingestion, bundling, and resolution within Jentic pipelines.
50
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience
Semantic breadth, depth, and agent comprehension for AI systems.
Grade: D+Signals: 4
51%
Description Coverage
Coverage of descriptions across API elements.
0%
Error Standardization
Coverage of RFC 9457 Problem Details for error responses.
100%
OperationId Quality
Coverage, uniqueness, and casing consistency of operationIds for AI inference.
48%
Summary Coverage
Coverage of summaries across operations/tags/info.
94
Agent Usability
Functional utility, complexity comfort, and AI orchestration readiness.
Grade: A+Signals: 1
94%
Complexity Comfort
Agent comfort level based on API operational and structural complexity.
55
Security
Trust, risk posture, and security compliance.
Grade: CSignals: 1
55%
Authentication Strength
Average quality of security schemes based on authentication method strength (weakest link for OAuth2).
74
AI Discoverability
Findability, semantic richness, and reasoning readiness.
Grade: A-Signals: 1
74%
Descriptive Richness
Clarity and depth of descriptions across API elements.
Score it yourself
Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required.
npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score <openapi-url>Why Jentic?
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring OrbitalWiki by hand means choosing between a bearer ow_ key and the X-API-Key header, tracking which routes are public, and paging limit and offset across satellite and operator lists. Through Jentic you install once, import OrbitalWiki from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.
Permission scoping
OrbitalWiki puts the NORAD ID in the URL path (/satellites/{norad_cat_id}/tle), so a rule can pin your agent to one NORAD object and the read operations you pick. You choose the operations it may call, so key creation through POST /keys is not included unless you add it.
Credential isolation
Your OrbitalWiki API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'get the current TLE for a satellite' or 'list recent re-entries', and Jentic returns the matching OrbitalWiki operation with its input schema, including the orbit_class and status enums.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using OrbitalWiki API through Jentic.
What authentication does the OrbitalWiki API use?
Per its OpenAPI spec, OrbitalWiki accepts an ow_ API key either as a bearer token in the Authorization header or in the X-API-Key header. The spec also declares several public routes with no security, including GET /elements, GET /events, GET /launches, and GET /dataset/{slice}, and states that catalogue reads work without a key at a lower daily allowance. Through Jentic the key is held by your own instance and attached at call time.
Can I get a satellite's current TLE from OrbitalWiki?
Yes. GET /satellites/{norad_cat_id}/tle returns the current TLE for a satellite, and GET /satellites/{norad_cat_id}/omm returns the CCSDS Orbit Mean-Elements Message. The spec notes orbital data is approximate and not for operational use.
What are the rate limits for the OrbitalWiki API?
Per the OpenAPI spec, reads without a key are limited to 50 requests per UTC day per network, shared with everyone on that network, and a free key raises that to 1,000 per day.
Is there an OrbitalWiki MCP server?
You don't need an MCP server to give your agent OrbitalWiki. Jentic connects it directly from the API Directory: import it, store your key once, and your agent calls the satellite, search, and dataset operations on demand without loading another server's tool definitions into its context.
How do I search for satellites through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'search satellites by name', load the GET /search operation, and execute it with q plus optional orbit_class, status, or country filters. Results page with limit and offset. To run it on your own infrastructure, install Jentic One from its GitHub repo.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with OrbitalWiki?
Yes. For example, a rule that allows GET /satellites/{norad_cat_id} and its /tle path for NORAD ID 25544 keeps the agent on that one object, and leaving POST /keys out means it cannot create keys. Every call it makes is logged.
Where does OrbitalWiki's data come from?
The spec credits CelesTrak OMM and SATCAT, GCAT by Jonathan McDowell under CC-BY 4.0, Wikidata under CC0, and SatNOGS DB under CC BY-SA 4.0. GET /sources lists each data source with its licence status and provenance credits.
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