juliensimon/reentry-events

---
license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: "Reentry Events"
language:
- en
description: "Catalog of 34,921 objects that have reentered Earth's atmosphere, derived from the NORAD SATCAT via CelesTrak. Includes launch and decay dates, orbital parameters, and time in orbit. Updated daily."
task_categories:
- tabular-classification
tags:
- space
- reentry
- orbital-mechanics
- satellites
- debris
- open-data
- tabular-data
- parquet
size_categories:
- 10K<n<100K
configs:
- config_name: default
data_files:
- split: train
path: data/reentry-events.parquet
default: true
---

# Reentry Events

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


Catalog of **34,921** objects that have reentered Earth's atmosphere, derived from the
NORAD Satellite Catalog (SATCAT) via [CelesTrak](https://celestrak.org/). An object is
considered reentered when its DECAY_DATE is recorded in the SATCAT. Covers reentries
from 1957 to 2026.

## Dataset description

Every object launched into Earth orbit eventually returns -- whether through natural orbital
decay, controlled deorbits, or breakup. This dataset catalogs every object in the NORAD
SATCAT that has a recorded decay date, providing a comprehensive history of atmospheric
reentries. It includes payloads, rocket bodies, and debris, with derived fields like
time spent in orbit and decay year for trend analysis.

## Schema

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `norad_id` | int32 | NORAD catalog number (unique identifier) |
| `object_name` | string | Official name (e.g. "COSMOS 1234 DEB") |
| `object_type` | string | `PAY` (payload), `R/B` (rocket body), `DEB` (debris), `UNK` (unknown) |
| `country_code` | string | Owner/operator country or organization code |
| `launch_date` | datetime | Launch date (UTC) |
| `decay_date` | datetime | Date of atmospheric reentry (UTC) |
| `period_min` | float | Last recorded orbital period in minutes |
| `inclination_deg` | float | Last recorded orbital inclination in degrees |
| `apogee_km` | float | Last recorded apogee altitude in km |
| `perigee_km` | float | Last recorded perigee altitude in km |
| `rcs_size` | string | Radar cross-section size category (SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE) |
| `days_in_orbit` | int | Days between launch and decay |
| `decay_year` | int32 | Year of reentry (for grouping/filtering) |

## Quick stats

- **34,921** reentered objects
- **7,200** payloads, **23,190** debris fragments, **4,427** rocket bodies
- Median time in orbit: **925** days
- Reentries span **1957** to **2026**
- Top countries: CIS (18,477), US (10,346), PRC (3,090), FR (830), JPN (585)

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/reentry-events", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# Reentries per year
reentries_by_year = df.groupby("decay_year")["norad_id"].count()
reentries_by_year.tail(10)

# Longest-lived objects
longest = df.nlargest(10, "days_in_orbit")[["object_name", "days_in_orbit", "launch_date", "decay_date"]]

# Reentries by object type
df["object_type"].value_counts()

# Recent reentries (last 30 days)
import pandas as pd
recent = df[df["decay_date"] > pd.Timestamp.now() - pd.Timedelta(days=30)]
```

## Data source

Derived from the [CelesTrak SATCAT](https://celestrak.org/pub/satcat.csv), which mirrors
the official US Space Command catalog maintained by the 18th Space Defense Squadron.
Objects with a recorded DECAY_DATE are extracted as reentry events.

## Update schedule

Daily at 07:15 UTC via [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets).

## Related datasets

- [space-track-satcat](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/space-track-satcat) -- Full NORAD satellite catalog
- [space-launch-log](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/space-launch-log) -- Global launch history from GCAT
- [tle-history](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/tle-history) -- Historical two-line element sets

## Pipeline

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

## Support

If you find this dataset useful, please give it a ❤️ on the [dataset page](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/reentry-events) and share feedback in the Community tab! Also consider giving a ⭐️ to the [space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets) repo.

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{reentry_events,
author = {Simon, Julien},
title = {Reentry Events},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Hugging Face},
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/reentry-events},
note = {Derived from NORAD SATCAT via CelesTrak (Dr. T.S. Kelso)}
}
```

## License

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