MPF Backshell is catalogued in this registry as a component, held in the frame of Earth, from GCAT — artificial space objects.
Registry id GCAT_A05946 ·
source layer gcat ·
provenance PROCESSED — derived deterministically from source catalogues (unit, frame and epoch conversions, cross-source reconciliation) — no value invented
Exists from 1996-12-04 06:58:07 UTC (JD 2450421.79036) — no end date is recorded.
Open MPF Backshell in the live scene → The scene composes a position for any date and is where a figure becomes a picture. It downloads the whole catalogue first: measured against the built product, an object outside the core resolves after about 16 s over a local network and about 147 s over a 4 Mbit link, having transferred roughly 70 MB. If you cannot wait that long, this page is the answer.
| Quantity | Value | Uncertainty | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radius | 10 m | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — artificial space objects |
| Mass | 112 kg | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — artificial space objects |
Each row carries its own uncertainty and its own source. Where a row says no uncertainty is published, that is what the catalogue says — it is not a claim that the value is exact.
This object's parent frame changes over its life. Each leg names the frame it is expressed in and the source arc it came from. A leg with no geometry is a declared gap — the registry holds no path across it and draws none.
| From | To | Frame | Geometry | Source arc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-12-04 08:13:00 UTC (JD 2450421.842361111) | 1996-12-09 09:40:00 UTC (JD 2450426.902777778) | EARTH | no geometry in this leg | auxcat |
| 1996-12-09 09:40:00 UTC (JD 2450426.902777778) | 1997-07-02 08:45:00 UTC (JD 2450631.8645833335) | SOL | orbit | hcocat |
| 1997-07-02 08:45:00 UTC (JD 2450631.8645833335) | 1997-07-04 16:55:59 UTC (JD 2450634.2055555554) | MARS | no geometry in this leg | lprcat |
| 1997-07-04 16:55:59 UTC (JD 2450634.2055555554) | 1997-07-04 16:56:59 UTC (JD 2450634.20625) | MARS | no geometry in this leg | lprcat |
| 1997-07-04 16:56:59 UTC (JD 2450634.20625) | open-ended | MARS | fixed position | impact |
| Kind | component |
|---|---|
| Origin | artificial (made by humans) |
| Operating nation | USA |
| Operator class | governmental |
| Launch site code | CC |
| Launch vehicle | Delta 7925 |
| Launch outcome | success |
| Planetary protection | target Mars · contact class surface · COSPAR category IVa under the policy in force at launch (IVa under the 2026 policy) · documentation: undocumented — a DOCUMENTATION fact, never a compliance verdict |
| Separated from | GCAT_A05862 on 1996-12-04 08:13:00 UTC (JD 2450421.842361111) |
A05946 1996-068 · JPL/US · mfr LMA · bus MPF Aeroshell · op EEO · dry 57 kg · a/e/i GCAT; Ω,ω,M₀ not in GCAT → placeholder spread (ω = 0; display only) [GCAT]
Reproduced as the source wrote it. Author-year citations link to their DOI where one is registered.
These are absences in the catalogues aggregated here, not measurements of zero, and not statements that the quantity is unknown to science:
| Database | GCAT — artificial space objects |
|---|---|
| Authority | GCAT — General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (J. McDowell) |
| Address | https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/tsv |
| Licence | CC-BY 4.0 — https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/ |
| How it entered | RAW snapshot via scripts/ingest-gcat.ts |
| Snapshot | 2026-06-09 |
| Coverage | 54,915 objects; 1138 multisegment; 349 landed; debris archived, off by default; 1,797 failed-to-orbit objects placed at their launch sites (existence-windowed to their fall); uncatalogued (CSO/analyst) objects included; 36 marked-erroneous (ERR) phantom entries skipped; 20,196 carry a MEASURED Ω/ω/M₀ from a Celestrak GP join, the rest a deterministic placeholder spread; launch log joined by Launch_Tag → site:/lv:/outcome: facets on 54,557 objects (54,508 with minute-precise launch time); 99 deep-space trajectories refined by JPL Horizons navigation arcs (piecewise osculating elements, heliocentric cruise spans only) |
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