Keplerian Elements

Keplerian elements provide a mathematical description of a Satellite's orbit. Satellite tracking software reads the Keplerian elements and provides graphical and/or tabular orbital predictions. Keplerian data are most commonly provided in the AMSAT and the Space Command / NASA Two-Line Element (TLE) format. You can also use the "kep-char" Excel spreadsheet to determine orbital characteristics of a set of Keplerian elements.


	Keplerian Elements may be downloaded from the U.S. Government Space-Track Web site. You must establish a personal account and agree not to re-distribute these data


	Current Keplerian elements are available for selected Manned, Amateur Radio, Meteorological, Navigation, Communications, and High Interest satellites in the standard NORAD/NASA Two-Line Element (TLE) format.

Keplerian elements provide tracking software with the information needed to compute satellite positions and velocities