Slingshot Portal

Total Endpoints

53

Across all API groups

SPU Range

0.00 - 10.42
Per API call

Billing Unit

SPU
Slingshot Processing Unit

Cost tiers:

Space Contextual Data

44 endpoints · 0.00 - 0.09 SPU

Space Object Catalog

7 endpoints · 0.00 - 10.42 SPU

Space Object Analytics

1 endpoints · 3.32 - 3.32 SPU

Marketplace

1 endpoints · 0.00 - 0.00 SPU

Usage Scenarios

Real-world integration patterns with per-endpoint call counts and rationale.

Daily Spacecraft Fleet Monitoring

13,530.74 SPU per month

Monitor a fleet of 50 spacecraft daily: list catalog summaries (each includes lastSeen), then fetch latest TLE only for spacecraft whose lastSeen indicates new data. Run the out-of-family (cohort) check once per UTC day (not on every catalog poll): one GET for the daily snapshot with orbitRegime matching your fleet—step 3 shows LEO; use GEO if your fleet is geosynchronous. Repeat calls the same UTC day for the same regime return the same payload.

Maneuver Detection and Analysis

298.53 SPU per analysis

Analyze orbital decay and maneuver detection for a single spacecraft over 30 days. Pull historical TLEs day by day, then enrich with spacecraft metadata and propulsion context: list thrusters to see which engines the vehicle uses, then get full engine details for each (e.g. 2 engines). Use this to interpret delta-V from TLEs, attribute maneuvers to specific propulsion, or assess performance against known hardware.

Keep external Seradata (contextual) copy up to date

1.66 SPU per week

Weekly sync driven by launch activity: ~5 launches per week with ~20 spacecraft per launch (100 spacecraft). A quarter of those (25) introduce new engines, thrusters, or payloads. Reference data such as companies and countries is not refreshed (assumed stable). List endpoints run once per week; detail fetches scale with launches and new spacecraft/components.

SPU FAQ

What is an SPU?

A Slingshot Processing Unit (SPU) is the normalized billing unit for the platform. It abstracts compute, storage, and data processing into one predictable metric. Each successful API response consumes SPUs based on endpoint complexity.

Why do TLE and ephemeris endpoints cost more?

TLE and ephemeris endpoints involve computationally intensive orbital mechanics and time-sensitive processing, so they consume more SPUs than lightweight contextual reference lookups.

How does the TLE-by-day cost work?

The TLE-by-day endpoint returns TLEs for a single calendar day per call. For multiple days you make one call per day; cost is per call. TLE calls now use a single per-call SPU price regardless of data age.

Are failed requests charged?

No. Only successful responses (2xx) consume SPUs. Client errors (4xx), server errors (5xx), and rate-limit responses (429) are not charged.

How do rate limits interact with SPU balance?

Rate limits and SPU balance are enforced separately. You can have enough SPUs and still hit rate limits, or stay within rate limits but fail if your SPU balance is exhausted.

Does pagination affect cost?

Each paginated request is billed at the listed SPU rate per call. Larger page sizes can reduce total calls, which can lower total SPU usage for full data retrieval.

Where can I monitor my SPU usage?

Use Key Management in the developer portal to monitor SPU consumption, endpoint-level patterns, and remaining balance.