Orbinauts is a live satellite tracker: a map of everything the US catalogue lists on orbit, pass times for cities, a page for satellites worth knowing and a public API. It is run by one person, named in the legal notice, and there is no press office. Everything on this page is ready to use on the terms below; write to hello@orbinauts.com for anything it does not answer.
The credit line
Give this line wherever you show or cite data from Orbinauts, word for word, under a chart and in a sentence alike:
Source: Orbinauts (orbinauts.com), orbits from Space-Track
It stays in English in every language. It is the attribution the CC BY 4.0 licence asks for, and it carries Space-Track's own citation condition to whoever reads you, so nothing further is owed to the catalogue. Every API answer sends the same sentence in its X-Attribution header, and the data sources page says where each part comes from.
How to cite Orbinauts
In a sentence:
…according to Orbinauts (orbinauts.com), counted from Space-Track’s catalogue.
In a footnote:
Orbinauts, How many satellites are in orbit, orbinauts.com/how-many-satellites-in-orbit, orbits from Space-Track, retrieved September 20, 2026.
The retrieved date is the date of the figure you read, which every page states as its own “as of” instant, not the day you opened the page: written that way the citation stays true even when your copy came from a cache.
The mark
The Orbinauts mark is a world with an orbit round it and a satellite on the orbit. Four files, the same drawing on a light and on a dark ground, the vector to place in a layout and the picture at 512 pixels square:
Show the mark as supplied: do not redraw it, recolour it, stretch it, rotate it, or set type or a border over it, and leave it the clear space each file already brings. The mark with the name beside it is the lockup, which is not handed out here.
What you may reuse
- The numbers, and every answer the API gives — the counts on this site, positions, pass times, the elements Orbinauts republishes and the dataset of cities — are licensed CC BY 4.0. Publish them anywhere, commercially included, with the credit line above.
- Screenshots of the site, and charts you draw from its numbers, are free to publish with the same line. Nothing here may be presented as endorsed by NASA, Space-Track or any agency.
- The writing on this site, and the mark, are reserved. Quote a sentence or two with the credit line; more than that, or the mark for anything beyond illustrating a piece about Orbinauts, needs a word to the mailbox below. The terms of use say the rest.
Fast facts
| Fact | Figure | True on |
|---|---|---|
| Objects in orbit | 32,000 | |
| Satellites with a page of their own | 53 | |
| Cities with pass times | 300 | |
| Languages | English and Spanish | |
| Orbits refreshed every | 4 hours | |
| Where the figures come from | Space-Track, NASA, and Natural Earth |
The objects in orbit are rounded down to the thousand, so the figure never claims more than the catalogue holds, and the whole map draws them: satellites, rocket bodies, debris and unidentified pieces alike. For the exact count at this minute, with its own “as of” instant and what it counts spelled out, read How many satellites are in orbit?
Contact
Write to hello@orbinauts.com.
One person reads it, in their spare time, so expect an answer within days rather than hours. There is no telephone line and no embargo list; the postal address is in the legal notice.