Talk:List of artificial objects in heliocentric orbit

Why is the United States group listed first?
The items within each list are list chronologically, from early to later. The other groups (Soviet Union/Russian Federation, European Space Agency (ESA),Japan, China) are listed chronologically, from early to later.

So I presume the intention here was to logically arrange chronologically, a sound approach. Yet the United States group comes first.

The Luna 1 spacecraft was the very first put into heliocentric orbit. So, logically, I expect the Soviet Union/Russian Federation group to be put first.

By what reasoning is the US group listed first?

Inconsistent re Upper stages
Surely it should include "Agena, Centaur, and IUS upper stages used on unmanned missions" since it includes "the S-IVB upper stages on manned Apollo missions" - Perhaps the upper stages should be in a list by themselves ? Rod57 (talk) 09:46, 9 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Agreed. This article is very insconsistent on upper stages.  I've done a little work to better capture a small subset of the upper stages (aka "cruise stages" or "flight buses") as Category:Derelict satellites in heliocentric orbit.  This category currently has only a handful of upper stages that have been left in circumsolar orbit in it; but it is a start.  Other editors should feel free to add additional heliocentric upper stages to the Derelict satellites in heliocentric orbitcategory, as well as begin to capture them in this article.  Cheers. N2e (talk) 21:01, 11 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Not sure we need them in this article if they are listed in another that we can see also. Also using a Category lists them alphabetically whereas an ordinary page would allow us to create a table with sortable columns for things like date, mass, orbital characteristics. - Rod57 (talk) 13:56, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

MRO
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is definitely not in heliocentric orbit. 216.246.130.20 (talk) 23:00, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

Mars Orbiter Mission
Does Mars Orbiter Mission belong to this list? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kamathln (talk • contribs) 04:27, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Apollo S-IVB adapter panels really in solar orbit?
Are the S-IVB spacecraft adapter panels really in solar orbit? The first several Apollo lunar missions were injected into free return trajectories, so it's possible that the adapter panels from these missions looped around the moon, returned to earth and burned up in the atmosphere. Karn (talk) 03:44, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

In the Talk section of this article it is speculated that at least one of the panels might have survived and it is what we currently know as 6Q0B44E. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.216.120.237 (talk) 02:06, 13 July 2019 (UTC)

My information on Apollo 13-17 is that the S-IVB shut down in what was a sub-orbital trajectory of Earth so that if the SM engine failed the crew would not be lost. (A free return trajectory was impossible because they wanted to land too far from the Moon's equator). It took only a small burn from the SM engine to get the correct lunar encounter, but the panels would not have received it.

Upper stages
What happens to the upper stages of the rockets that placed all those objects in heliocentric orbit? For example the Falcon Heavy Upper stage that placed a Tesla in space. Barecode (talk) 22:03, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

Tea Kettle
You can’t prove it’s not there. I bet I can find a tonne of reliable sources speculating its existence. 2601:1C2:5000:1472:9DF4:5435:C334:FAA1 (talk) 07:52, 16 March 2022 (UTC)