From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Below is a list of artificial objects currently
[update] in
heliocentric orbit . This list does not include upper stages from robotic missions (only the
S-IVB upper stages from Apollo missions with astronauts are listed), objects in the Sun–Earth
Lagrange points or
objects that are escaping from the Solar System .
United States
The
Federal government of the United States has placed in heliocentric orbit:
Pioneer 4 –
Moon (1959)
Ranger 3 – Moon (1961)
Ranger 5 – Moon (1963)
Mariner 2 –
Venus (1962)
Mariner 3 – Intended for
Mars , communication lost when launch shroud failed to separate (1964)
Mariner 4 – Mars (1964–1967)
Mariner 5 – Venus (1967)
Pioneer 5 ,
Pioneer 6 ,
Pioneer 7 ,
Pioneer 8 , and
Pioneer 9 – Sun (1966–1969)
S-IVB for
Apollo 8 (1968)
S-IVB for
Apollo 9 (1969)
S-IVB and
LM Snoopy (ascent stage) for
Apollo 10 (1969)
S-IVB for
Apollo 11 (1969)
Mariner 6 and
Mariner 7 – Mars (1969)
S-IVB for
Apollo 12 (1969) –
temporarily recaptured in Earth orbit 2002, escaped again 2003
ICE – Comets Giocabinni-Zinner and Halley (1974–1987)
Mariner 10 – Venus and
Mercury (1974–1975)
Mars Observer (1992) – Intended for Mars, failed prior to orbital insertion (1993)
Protective cover of
Cassini CDA instrument (1997)
[1]
Stardust –
Comet Wild 2 (1999–2006)
Genesis – Solar wind sample mission (2001–2004)
CONTOUR – Intended to flyby several comets, failed after launch (2002), seen as three separate fragments
Spitzer Space Telescope (2003–2020)
Deep Impact –
Comet Tempel 1
STEREO-A and STEREO-B (2006–2016)
Kepler Mission (2009–2018)
TAGSAM head cover – jettisoned from
OSIRIS-REx (2018)
[2]
MarCO-A and MarCO-B –
CubeSat relays for
InSight (2018–2019)
Parker Solar Probe (2018–present)
Lucy , various orbits between Earth gravity-assists and Jupiter's Trojans (2021–present)
LICIACube (
ASI ) –
CubeSat flyby of
Didymos system (2021–present)
CubeSat for Solar Particles , (2022–present)
Team Miles (2022–present)
BioSentinel (2022–present)
Near-Earth Asteroid Scout , will do an asteroid flyby (2022–present)
On Apollos 8 and 10–17, each S-IVB upper stage jettisoned four sections of a truncated conical adapter that supported the
Apollo service module and (except for Apollo 8) enclosed the
Apollo Lunar Module . These panels are in heliocentric orbit, including those from Apollos 13–17 whose S-IVBs impacted the Moon, as the S-IVBs jettisoned them before maneuvering themselves into lunar impact trajectories. The panels continued on lunar flyby trajectories into heliocentric orbit. (The adapter panels on Apollo 9 were jettisoned in Earth orbit before the S-IVB burned into an Earth escape trajectory. They eventually decayed.)
U.S.-based commercial spaceflight companies have placed in heliocentric orbit:
Soviet Union or Russian Federation
The
Soviet Union or the
Russian Federation has placed in heliocentric orbit:
European Space Agency (ESA)
The
European Space Agency has placed in heliocentric orbit:
Helios 1 (joint U.S./Germany) – Sun (1975–1985), launched on a US Titan III
Helios 2 (joint U.S./Germany) – Sun (1976–1979)
Giotto mission – Halley's Comet (1985–1992)
Ulysses (joint U.S./ESA) –
Jupiter and Sun's north and south poles (1990–2009)
Japan
Japan has placed in heliocentric orbit:
China
China has placed in heliocentric orbit:
See also
References
Exploration of Artificial objects
Lists