Editorial policy

How WatchSat chooses its sources, checks its numbers, and fixes its mistakes.

Who is behind the content

WatchSat is an independent project, not affiliated with any space agency or satellite operator. The blog and the guides are published by the WatchSat editors, and nothing goes live until the editor has reviewed and approved it. To reach the editors, use the contact page.

Where the facts come from

We rank sources. When two disagree, the higher one wins.

Official and primary data first. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center for space-weather forecasts, the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for the official Kp index, NASA and ESA for missions and spacecraft, NASA/JPL Horizons for deep-space positions, the International Meteor Organization for meteor-shower peaks, CelesTrak for orbital elements, and The Space Devs’ Launch Library 2 for the launch schedule.
Specialist trackers and the space press second. A key claim rests on one primary source or on two independent ones. Outlets repeating the same press release count as one.
Secondary reports are a way to find the primary source, not the source itself.

When sources disagree and we can’t settle it, the post says so and names who says what. Forecasts are labelled as forecasts and credited to whoever issued them: NOAA’s Kp outlook, or a launch’s time on the Launch Library schedule. Launch dates slip, and the post says that too. A number that is our own calculation, from our snapshot of the orbital elements for example, is marked as ours with the method in plain words.

Photographs on the blog are real ones from NASA, NOIRLab or ESA, credited to the source and linked to its page. They are never WatchSat renders. The credits page lists every source and licence.

How numbers are checked

Every number in a post is tied to a source or to a calculation we logged. Each post has a facts log: the figures it uses, each with a source link, or with the method for one we calculated. A script in our repository, check-draft, reads the post, picks out every number and date in the text, headings, tables and chart labels, and matches them against that log. A number with nothing behind it is reported, and the post doesn’t move forward until the number is sourced or cut.

The first three posts, from September 27, 2026, were published before this check existed and have no facts log.

Review and approval

Every post is reviewed and approved by the editor before it is published. The editor reads it against its sources and checks the image credit. Ads on the blog come from Google AdSense, and advertisers have no say in what we cover.

Live data and predictions

The tracker pages compute positions, pass times and launch times from public data feeds. They are estimates, and data & methodology explains how good they are and where they fall short.

Reporting an error

If you think something here is wrong, tell us through the contact page or at [email protected]. Say which page and what looks wrong, and add a source if you have one. We check the claim against the sources above, and if we got it wrong we correct the page.

Corrections

When a published fact turns out to be wrong, we fix it in the page itself and say so: a post with a changed fact carries a visible “Corrected on” note under its headline, and the correction goes in the log below. Typo and formatting fixes that change no fact aren’t logged.

Corrections log

October 12, 2026. How many rocket launches in 2026? The count so far: An earlier version dated booster B1067's record 37th flight August 24, the date in Spaceflight Now's article address. The launch was at 09:33 UTC on August 25.

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