Uploading TLE Data

These are the instructions to upload TLE files to the NRAO ODS API.

Send your TLE .txt file to the NRAO ODS API using the multipart/form-data content type. You’ll need to include:

  • Your authentication token in the Authorization header

  • Your TLE file (a .txt file with TLE records in 3LE format) attached under the field name tle_file

TLE records must be formatted appropriately and a single TLE file must be less than 50 kB. Example:

ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A   26034.04958920  .00010142  00000+0  19604-3 0  9992
2 25544  51.6308 243.5964 0011016  59.0626 301.1443 15.48354905550960
ISS (NAUKA)
1 49044U 21066A   26034.04958920  .00010142  00000+0  19604-3 0  9998
2 49044  51.6308 243.5964 0011016  59.0626 301.1443 15.48354905230449

curl -X 'POST' \
  'https://ods.nrao.edu/tle_data' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <EXAMPLE_TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: multipart/form-data' \
  -F 'tle_file=@<EXAMPLE_TEXT_FILE_NAME>.txt;type=text/plain'

Response 201 CREATED

{
  "ingested_records": "<number of TLE records sent>"
}

Common error codes

  • 400 Bad Request, e.g.

    • Invalid NORAD ID

    • Name too long

    • File size too large

    • File empty

    • Issue parsing TLE file

    • 2LE format received instead of 3LE format

    • TLE format not matched exactly