Luna-13

Luna-13 is catalogued in this registry as a payload, held in the frame of Earth, from GCAT — artificial space objects.

Registry id GCAT_S02626 · source layer gcat · provenance PROCESSED — derived deterministically from source catalogues (unit, frame and epoch conversions, cross-source reconciliation) — no value invented

Exists from 1966-12-21 10:17:07 UTC (JD 2439480.92856) — no end date is recorded.

Open Luna-13 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.

Measured quantities

QuantityValueUncertaintySource
Radius1.35 mno published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Mass1196 kgno published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — 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.

Trajectory, leg by leg

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.

FromToFrameGeometry Source arc
1966-12-21 11:22:00 UTC (JD 2439480.9736111113)1966-12-24 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2439483.5)EARTHorbitsatcat
1966-12-24 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2439483.5)1966-12-24 18:01:00 UTC (JD 2439484.2506944444)MOONno geometry in this leglprcat
1966-12-24 18:01:00 UTC (JD 2439484.2506944444)open-endedMOONfixed positionimpact

Classification

Kindpayload
Originartificial (made by humans)
Operating nationUSSR
Operator classgovernmental
Launch site codeNIIP-5
Launch vehicleMolniya 8K78M
Launch outcomesuccess
UN registrationregistered with the United Nations — USSR · A/AC.105/INF.151
Planetary protectiontarget Luna · contact class surface · COSPAR category probabilistic_era under the policy in force at launch (II under the 2026 policy) · documentation: undocumented — a DOCUMENTATION fact, never a compliance verdict
Separated fromGCAT_A01097 on 1966-12-21 11:22:00 UTC (JD 2439480.9736111113)

The catalogue's own note

S02626 #02626 1966-116A · IKI/BABTS/SU · mfr NPOL · bus E-6 DU · op CLO · dry 300 kg · tot 1620 kg · category PLAN/RV · class C · program E-6M · 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.

What this registry does not know about it

These are absences in the catalogues aggregated here, not measurements of zero, and not statements that the quantity is unknown to science:

Where this record comes from

DatabaseGCAT — artificial space objects
AuthorityGCAT — General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (J. McDowell)
Addresshttps://planet4589.org/space/gcat/tsv
LicenceCC-BY 4.0 — https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/
How it enteredRAW snapshot via scripts/ingest-gcat.ts
Snapshot2026-06-09
Coverage54,915 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)

This database remains the property of its owners and is reused under its own licence. If you quote a value from this page, name that database alongside SolarSystemRegistry.org.