Below is a list of artificial objects in

heliocentric orbit A heliocentric orbit (also called circumsolar orbit) is an orbit around the barycenter of the Solar System, which is usually located within or very near the surface of the Sun. All planets, comets, and asteroids in the Solar System, and the Sun i ...

. This list does not include objects that are escaping from the Solar System, upper stages from robotic missions (only the S-IVB upper stages from Apollo missions with astronauts are listed), or objects in the Sun–Earth

Lagrange point In celestial mechanics, the Lagrange points (; also Lagrangian points or libration points) are points of equilibrium for small-mass objects under the influence of two massive orbiting bodies. Mathematically, this involves the solution of th ...

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 6'', ''7'', ''8'', and ''9'' were space probes in the Pioneer program, launched between 1965 and 1969. They were a series of solar-orbiting, spin-stabilized, solar cell- and battery-powered satellites designed to obtain measurements ...

Pioneer 7 Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

, Pioneer 8, and Pioneer 9 – Sun (1966-1969) * S-IVB for

Apollo 8 Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These ...

(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 A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

and Mariner 7 – Mars (1969) * S-IVB for

Apollo 12 Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Pete Conra ...

(1969) – temporarily recaptured in Earth orbit 2002, escaped again 2003 * ICE – Comets Giocabinni-Zinner and Halley (1974-1987) * ''

Mariner 10 ''Mariner 10'' was an American Robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe launched by NASA on 3 November 1973, to fly by the planets Mercury (planet), Mercury and Venus. It was the first spacecraft to perform flybys of multiple planets. ''Ma ...

'' – Venus and

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

(1974-1975) * Mars Observer (1992) – Intended for Mars, failed prior to orbital insertion (1993) * Protective cover of Cassini CDA instrument (1997) * ''

Stardust Stardust may refer to: * A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space Entertainment Songs * “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael * “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974 * “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012 * ...

'' – Comet Wild 2 (1999-2006) * ''

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

'' – Solar wind sample mission (2001-2004) * CONTOUR – Intended to flyby several comets, failed after launch (2002), seen as three separate fragments *

Spitzer Space Telescope The Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), was an infrared space telescope launched in 2003. Operations ended on 30 January 2020. Spitzer was the third space telescope dedicated to infrared astronomy, f ...

(2003-2020) * Deep Impact –

Comet Tempel 1 Tempel 1 (official designation: 9P/Tempel) is a periodic Jupiter-family comet discovered by Wilhelm Tempel in 1867. It completes an orbit of the Sun every 5.5 years. Tempel 1 was the target of the ''Deep Impact'' space mission, which photograph ...

* STEREO-A and STEREO-B (2006-2016) * Kepler Mission (2009-2018) *

TAGSAM TAGSAM or Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism is a robotic arm on the OSIRIS-REx space probe for collecting a sample from asteroid 101955 Bennu. OSIRIS-REx was launched in 2016, and arriving at the asteroid in December 2018 with plans to stu ...

head cover – jettisoned from OSIRIS-REx (2018) * 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 ''Team Miles'' is a 6U CubeSat that will demonstrate navigation in deep space using innovative plasma thrusters. It will also test a software-defined radio operating in the S-band for communications from about 4 million kilometers from Earth ...

, (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 The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

. 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: *

Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster is an electric sports car that served as the dummy payload for the February 2018 Falcon Heavy test flight and became an artificial satellite of the Sun. A mannequin in a spacesuit, dubbed "Starman", occupies the dr ...

with Falcon Heavy second stage (2018)

Soviet Union or Russian Federation

The Soviet Union or the Russian Federation has placed in heliocentric orbit: * Luna 1 – Intended to crash on Moon (1959) * Venera 1 – Intended for Venus, communication lost en route (1961) * Mars 1 – Intended for Mars, communication lost en route (1962) * Zond 2 – Intended for Mars, communication lost en route (1964) * Zond 3 – Moon (far side) and interplanetary space (1965) * Venera 2 – Venus (1966) * Mars 4 – Intended to orbit Mars, but retrorocket failed, mission partial success (1974) * Mars 6 coast stage – Mars (1974) * Mars 7 coast stage – Mars (1974) * Mars 7 lander – Intended to land on Mars, but missed planet (1974) * Venera 11 cruise stage – Venus (1978) * Venera 12 cruise stage – Venus (1978) * Venera 13 cruise stage – Venus (1982) * Venera 14 cruise stage – Venus (1982) * Vega 1 – Venus and Halley's Comet (1984-1986) * Vega 2 – Venus and Halley's Comet (1984-1986) * Phobos 1 – Intended for Mars and moon Phobos, communication lost en route (1988)

European Space Agency (ESA)

The

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

has placed in heliocentric orbit: *

Helios 1 ''Helios-A'' and ''Helios-B'' (after launch renamed ' and ') are a pair of probes that were launched into heliocentric orbit to study solar processes. As a joint venture between German Aerospace Center (DLR) and NASA, the probes were launc ...

(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 Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

'' (joint U.S./ESA) – Jupiter and Sun's north and south poles (1990-2009)

Japan

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

has placed in heliocentric orbit: * Sakigake – Halley's Comet (1985-1999) * Suisei – Halley's Comet (1985-1991) * Nozomi – Intended for Mars, but retrorocket failed (1998-2003) * MINERVA mini-lander – Intended for asteroid Itokawa but missed (2005) *

IKAROS IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) experimental spacecraft. The spacecraft was launched on 20 May 2010, aboard an H-IIA rocket, together with the ''Akatsuki'' (V ...

– Venus flyby (active) * DCAM1 & DCAM2 – Ejected from IKAROS (2010) * SHIN-EN – failed mission to Venus * SHIN-EN 2 – amateur radio satellite, material demonstration (possibly active) * ARTSAT2:DESPATCH – Deep space artwork (2014)

China

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

has placed in heliocentric orbit: * Chang'e 2 – asteroid

4179 Toutatis 4179 Toutatis, provisional designation , is an elongated, stony asteroid and slow rotator, classified as a near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo asteroid and Alinda asteroid groups, approximately 2.5 kilometers in d ...

flyby

References

{{Spacecraft by destination *