---
title: "Descent features | Re-entry date, orbital decay charts, TLE provenance"
description: "What Descent does today: hourly TLE ingestion, a predicted re-entry date (decay date) with countdown, orbital decay charts, per-prediction provenance, and team access controls."
url: https://descent.space/features
---
Features

# Built capabilities, not roadmap promises.

Descent already covers the workflow from catalog lookup to a dated, traceable orbital lifetime forecast. This page only lists the product surface that exists today.

Tracking inputs

## Start from the object you already know.

Descent is built for live catalog work rather than a blank spreadsheet: the public orbital elements (TLE) for any object in low Earth orbit, identified by NORAD catalog number. The product already supports the core tracking inputs and refresh loop below.

![Descent tracking screen showing the Add Satellite catalog search with mission and NORAD results.](https://descent.space/screenshots/app-tracking-1440.webp)

-   ### Satellite lookup by name or NORAD ID
    
    Add a spacecraft by the catalog handle your team already uses, whether that is a mission name or a NORAD catalog number.
    
-   ### Hourly TLE ingestion with five-year backfill
    
    The tracking record includes fresh general-perturbations (GP) orbital elements, the TLE sets that Space-Track and CelesTrak publish (CelesTrak also serves them as OMM), plus the historical TLE trail needed to understand how the prediction moved over time.
    
-   ### Automatic re-prediction on orbit change
    
    A new tracking update produces a new orbital lifetime forecast without analysts manually re-running the case.
    

Forecast outputs

## A date, a countdown, and the context behind both.

The prediction surface is opinionated around orbital lifetime, the re-entry date, and its traceability. Every output below is already part of the built product surface.

![Descent forecasting screen showing prediction tiles with the altitude-decay forecast chart for a tracked satellite.](https://descent.space/screenshots/app-forecasting-1440.webp)

-   ### Predicted re-entry date with live countdown
    
    The primary output is the current predicted re-entry window (the decay date, in Space-Track terms), paired with a running countdown to the event.
    
-   ### Charts for orbital decay
    
    The satellite detail page includes an orbital decay forecast chart (altitude over time) and a ballistic-coefficient trend across predictions.
    
-   ### Append-only prediction history
    
    Every forecast update is retained in sequence, so the record shows what changed and when.
    
-   ### Per-prediction provenance
    
    Each prediction stores the TLE inputs, fetch timing, and engine version used to produce it.
    

Operations

## Built for real teams, not single-user demos.

The current platform already includes the organization and governance basics needed to use the forecast record in shared workflows.

![Descent operations screen showing organization members, roles, and access controls.](https://descent.space/screenshots/app-operations-1440.webp)

-   ### Space-weather modeling in the prediction engine
    
    Forecasts account for the environmental factors already modeled in the product rather than assuming a drag-only toy scenario.
    
-   ### Organizations, roles, SSO, and magic-link sign-in
    
    Access is organized at the team level, with authentication paths that fit both institutional and lightweight operator workflows.
    
-   ### Audit log
    
    Activity is recorded so teams can review who changed access and how the shared workspace evolved.
    

Private beta

## If those are the workflows you need, request access.

The beta is aimed at teams that already need a current re-entry date, a history of how that date moved, and the tracking inputs behind it.