Troubleshooting
Problems and fixes for the most common issues in the ExoAtlas Orbit Visualizer: blank canvas, error badges, stale TLE warnings, permalink failures, and cloud save states. Each section names the exact badge text or message shown in the app.
Blank canvas or “Initializing WebGL…” never resolves
Cause. The app requires WebGL 1.0 and a supported GPU. The loading screen shows “Initializing ExoAtlas Orbit Visualizer…” and “Loading WebGL shaders and textures…” while assets load; if those messages persist indefinitely the browser may have blocked or failed to initialize WebGL.
Fix.
- Check your browser’s WebGL support at get.webgl.org. A supported browser shows a spinning cube.
- If WebGL is blocked, try a different browser (Chrome or Firefox on desktop are reliable).
- On some systems WebGL is disabled by flags. In Chrome, check
chrome://flagsand search for “WebGL”. - Disabling hardware acceleration forces WebGL into software rendering, which may be very slow but functional. Enable hardware acceleration in your browser’s settings.
- Reload the page — a transient network error during shader or texture loading can leave the loading screen stuck.
DECAYED badge on an object card
Cause. SGP4 error code 6: the satellite has decayed to below Earth’s surface at the current scenario time. The propagator still returns the last valid state, but the position is no longer meaningful. This is normal for satellites that re-entered years ago.
Fix.
- Wind the scenario time back to before the TLE’s epoch. The DECAYED badge clears once the propagated position is valid.
- If you loaded an archived TLE to study a historical orbit, set the scenario time near the TLE epoch using the Scenario Time (UTC) field and Set Time.
- The badge text is exactly DECAYED; the tooltip shows “satellite has decayed” (SGP4 error code 6).
SGP4 ERR badge on an object card
Cause. One of the other SGP4 error codes fired during propagation. The badge text shows SGP4 ERR; the tooltip shows the full error message. Error codes and their meanings:
| Code | Tooltip text | Likely cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean eccentricity out of range 0.0 ≤ e < 1.0 | High-drag orbit undergoing rapid decay, or a badly formed TLE. |
| 2 | mean motion less than 0.0 | Malformed TLE — mean motion field is zero or negative. |
| 3 | perturbed eccentricity out of range 0.0 ≤ e ≤ 1.0 | Short-period perturbations drove eccentricity out of range; usually a near-circular orbit with large B*. |
| 4 | semi-latus rectum is less than zero | Deep-space resonance divergence. Rare in normal operations. |
Fix.
- Verify the TLE is current and well-formed — paste it into the TLE Parser first.
- If the error appeared at a specific time, the orbit may have been physically valid only near the TLE’s epoch. Set the scenario time to the TLE epoch and check if the badge clears.
- Replace with a fresher TLE from the catalog or from Space-Track.
Stale TLE chip (“stale”) in the catalog
Cause. A TLE’s epoch is more than 7 days old. SGP4 accuracy degrades as the element set ages, so old TLEs may give positions significantly farther from truth than the nominal 1–3 km near-epoch baseline.
Fix. The catalog is refreshed daily from Space-Track, so stale entries usually update within 24 hours. If you need a fresh TLE immediately, retrieve it from Space-Track.org and paste it directly into the Two Line Element Set input. See TLE epoch age.
TLE mean elements propagated as osculating — expect divergence
Cause. You switched an object whose input was a TLE to the two-body or J2 propagator. TLE elements are mean elements fitted for SGP4; treating them as osculating elements causes large divergence from reality. This is a factual warning from the app, not an error you need to suppress — it is telling you the physics will be wrong.
Fix. Select SGP4 (recommended) from the object’s Propagator dropdown. If you intentionally want to use two-body or J2 with this TLE (e.g., for comparison), the warning is informational and the object still renders.
Permalink “Scenario too large for a link — use Save instead”
Cause. The encoded URL for the current scenario exceeds roughly 1,900 characters (the practical limit for Copy Link). Very large scenarios — many objects with many maneuver nodes — exhaust the budget.
Fix. Use Save / Load to save the scenario locally in your browser, or to cloud if you have an ExoAtlas Pro account. To share with someone, you can export a named local save and ask them to import it, or use the cloud-save URL if both parties are Pro members. Alternatively, reduce the number of objects or maneuver nodes to bring the link back under the size limit.
Catalog modal shows “Catalog unavailable right now. Try again later.”
Cause. The app could not fetch the featured-TLE catalog from data.exoatlas.com. This is almost always a transient network issue or a brief CDN timeout.
Fix. Close the modal and try again in a moment. If the problem persists, check your internet connection. A cached version of the catalog may load on the next attempt (the app uses ETags and localStorage to cache the catalog between visits).
Cloud save shows “Sign in to save scenarios to your account.”
Cause. You are not signed into an ExoAtlas account. Cloud scenarios require authentication.
Fix. Click Sign in ▸ in the Save/Load modal, or go to exoatlas.com/auth/login/. If you don’t have an account, sign up — local saves are always free.
Cloud save shows “Cloud scenarios are a Pro feature.”
Cause. Your account is on the free plan. Cloud scenarios are an ExoAtlas Pro feature; local saves are always available for free.
Fix. Use the local save slots (unlimited, always free), or see pricing to upgrade. See Plans & limits for the full comparison.
Cloud save shows “Scenario too large to store in the cloud.”
Cause. The serialized scenario body exceeds 100 KB, the per-slot maximum enforced by the server. Very large scenarios with many objects and maneuver nodes can reach this limit.
Fix. Reduce the number of objects or maneuver nodes and try again, or use the local save slots which have no body-size limit.
Maneuver shows “escape trajectory — rendering unsupported past the burn”
Cause. The maneuver ΔV was large enough to send the satellite onto a hyperbolic trajectory (eccentricity ≥ 1). The app cannot render a hyperbolic arc; the post-burn path display stops.
Fix. Reduce the ΔV magnitude so the resulting orbit remains elliptical (eccentricity < 1). The maneuver node and its ΔV budget are still recorded; only the rendered arc is suppressed.