Contents
List of artificial objects in heliocentric orbit
Below is a list of artificial objects 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: 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:
Japan
Japan has placed in heliocentric orbit:
China
China has placed in heliocentric orbit:
This article is derived from Wikipedia and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. View the original article.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Bliptext is not
affiliated with or endorsed by Wikipedia or the
Wikimedia Foundation.