juliensimon/gcat-launch-vehicles

---
license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: "GCAT Launch Vehicles and Engines"
language:
- en
description: "Launch vehicle specs, rocket engines, and stage data from Jonathan McDowell's General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (GCAT). 4,875 records across three tables."
task_categories:
- tabular-classification
tags:
- space
- rockets
- launch-vehicles
- engines
- orbital-mechanics
- open-data
- gcat
- tabular-data
configs:
- config_name: vehicles
data_files:
- split: train
path: data/vehicles.parquet
- config_name: engines
data_files:
- split: train
path: data/engines.parquet
- config_name: stages
data_files:
- split: train
path: data/stages.parquet
size_categories:
- 1K<n<10K
---

# GCAT Launch Vehicles and Engines

*Part of the [Orbital Mechanics Datasets](https://huggingface.co/collections/juliensimon/orbital-mechanics-datasets-69c24caca4ab3934c9856994) collection on Hugging Face.*

Launch vehicle specifications, rocket engines, and vehicle stages from
[GCAT](https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/) (General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects),
maintained by Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Currently **1,817** launch vehicles, **1,462** engines, and
**1,596** stages (4,875 records total).

## Configs

### `vehicles` — 1,817 launch vehicles

Every known launch vehicle variant with physical specifications.

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `lv_name` | string | Launch vehicle name |
| `lv_family` | string | Vehicle family (e.g. "Falcon", "Soyuz") |
| `lv_manufacturer` | string | Manufacturer code |
| `lv_variant` | string | Variant designation |
| `lv_alias` | string | Alternative name |
| `lv_min_stage` | int | Minimum number of stages |
| `lv_max_stage` | int | Maximum number of stages |
| `length_m` | float | Vehicle length in meters |
| `length_flag` | string | Length qualifier flag |
| `diameter_m` | float | Vehicle diameter in meters |
| `diameter_flag` | string | Diameter qualifier flag |
| `launch_mass_t` | float | Launch mass in tonnes |
| `mass_flag` | string | Mass qualifier flag |
| `leo_capacity_kg` | float | LEO payload capacity in kg |
| `gto_capacity_kg` | float | GTO payload capacity in kg |
| `to_thrust_kn` | float | Takeoff thrust in kN |
| `class` | string | Vehicle class (O=orbital, R=research, etc.) |
| `apogee_km` | float | Design apogee in km |
| `range` | string | Range |

### `engines` — 1,462 rocket engines

Rocket engine specifications including propellants, thrust, and specific impulse.

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `name` | string | Engine name |
| `manufacturer` | string | Manufacturer code |
| `family` | string | Engine family |
| `alt_name` | string | Alternative name |
| `oxidizer` | string | Oxidizer type |
| `fuel` | string | Fuel type |
| `mass_kg` | float | Engine mass in kg |
| `mass_flag` | string | Mass qualifier flag |
| `impulse` | float | Total impulse |
| `impulse_flag` | string | Impulse qualifier flag |
| `thrust_kn` | float | Thrust in kN |
| `thrust_flag` | string | Thrust qualifier flag |
| `isp_s` | float | Specific impulse in seconds |
| `isp_flag` | string | ISP qualifier flag |
| `duration_s` | float | Burn duration in seconds |
| `duration_flag` | string | Duration qualifier flag |
| `chambers` | float | Number of chambers |
| `date` | string | First use date |
| `usage` | string | Vehicle usage |
| `group` | string | Propellant group (Solid, Liquid, Hybrid, etc.) |

### `stages` — 1,596 vehicle stages

Individual stage specifications for launch vehicles.

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `stage_name` | string | Stage name |
| `stage_family` | string | Stage family |
| `stage_manufacturer` | string | Manufacturer code |
| `stage_alt_name` | string | Alternative name |
| `length_m` | float | Stage length in meters |
| `diameter_m` | float | Stage diameter in meters |
| `launch_mass_t` | float | Stage mass at launch in tonnes |
| `dry_mass_kg` | float | Dry mass in kg |
| `thrust_kn` | float | Stage thrust in kN |
| `duration_s` | float | Burn duration in seconds |
| `engine` | string | Engine name |
| `n_engines` | float | Number of engines |

## Quick stats

- **1,817** launch vehicle variants across **392** families
- **1,462** engines from **317** manufacturers
- **1,596** stage configurations
- **21** propellant groups (solid, liquid, hybrid, etc.)

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

vehicles = load_dataset("juliensimon/gcat-launch-vehicles", "vehicles", split="train")
engines = load_dataset("juliensimon/gcat-launch-vehicles", "engines", split="train")
stages = load_dataset("juliensimon/gcat-launch-vehicles", "stages", split="train")

vdf = vehicles.to_pandas()

# Largest launch vehicles by mass
print(vdf.nlargest(10, "launch_mass_t")[["lv_name", "launch_mass_t", "leo_capacity_kg"]])

# Engines by specific impulse
edf = engines.to_pandas()
print(edf.nlargest(10, "isp_s")[["name", "fuel", "oxidizer", "isp_s", "thrust_kn"]])

# Orbital-class vehicles only
orbital = vdf[vdf["class"] == "O"]
print(f"{len(orbital)} orbital-class vehicles")
```

## Data source

[GCAT](https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/) (General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects)
by Jonathan McDowell, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. GCAT is the most
comprehensive public catalog of space objects and launch vehicles, widely used in the
spaceflight research community.

## Update schedule

Static dataset — rebuilt manually when GCAT is updated (approximately monthly).

## Related datasets

- [space-launch-log](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/space-launch-log) — Complete global launch history from GCAT
- [space-track-satcat](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/space-track-satcat) — NORAD satellite catalog
- [starlink-fleet-data](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/starlink-fleet-data) — Daily Starlink constellation snapshots

## Pipeline

Source code: [juliensimon/space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets)

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{gcat_launch_vehicles,
author = {Simon, Julien},
title = {GCAT Launch Vehicles and Engines},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Hugging Face},
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/gcat-launch-vehicles},
note = {Based on GCAT by Jonathan McDowell, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics}
}
```

## License

[CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)