Sagan Memorial Station

Sagan Memorial Station is catalogued in this registry as a probe, held in the frame of Earth, from GCAT — artificial space objects.

Registry id GCAT_S24667 · 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) until 1997-09-27 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2450718.5).

Open Sagan Memorial Station 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.

Sources disagree about this object

The registry keeps every source's value rather than choosing one and discarding the rest. If you quote a figure below, quoting it alone would hide a real disagreement between catalogues.

Measured quantities

QuantityValueUncertaintySource
Radius2.65 mno published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Mass398 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
1996-12-04 08:06:00 UTC (JD 2450421.8375000004)1996-12-09 09:40:00 UTC (JD 2450426.902777778)EARTHno geometry in this legsatcat
1996-12-09 09:40:00 UTC (JD 2450426.902777778)1997-07-02 08:45:00 UTC (JD 2450631.8645833335)SOLorbithcocat
1997-02-04 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450483.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-02-13 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450492.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-02-22 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450501.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-03-03 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450510.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-03-12 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450519.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-03-21 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450528.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-03-30 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450537.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-04-08 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450546.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-04-17 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450555.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-04-26 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450564.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-05-05 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450573.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-05-14 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450582.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-05-23 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450591.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-06-01 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450600.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-06-10 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450609.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-06-19 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450618.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-06-28 02:32:00 UTC (JD 2450627.605555556)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
1997-07-02 08:45:00 UTC (JD 2450631.8645833335)1997-07-04 16:21:59 UTC (JD 2450634.1819444443)MARSno geometry in this leglprcat
1997-07-04 16:21:59 UTC (JD 2450634.1819444443)1997-07-04 16:56:59 UTC (JD 2450634.20625)MARSno geometry in this leglprcat
1997-07-04 16:56:54 UTC (JD 2450634.2061921293)open-endedMARSfixed positionsurface
1997-07-04 16:56:59 UTC (JD 2450634.20625)1997-09-27 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2450718.5)MARSno geometry in this leglprcat

Classification

Kindprobe
Originartificial (made by humans)
Operating nationUSA
Operator classgovernmental
Launch site codeCC
Launch vehicleDelta 7925
Launch outcomesuccess
UN registrationregistered with the United Nations — USA · ST/SG/SER.E/322
Planetary protectiontarget 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 fromGCAT_A05862 on 1996-12-04 08:06:00 UTC (JD 2450421.8375000004)

The catalogue's own note

S24667 #24667 1996-068A · aka Mars Pathfinder · JPL/US · mfr JPL · bus MPF · op EEO · dry 350 kg · tot 880 kg · category PLAN · class C · program Discovery · a/e/i GCAT; Ω,ω,M₀ not in GCAT → placeholder spread (ω = 0; display only) [GCAT] · carries an on-board nuclear power source [nuclear: rhu]: RHU + 3 × RHU · Pu-238 — declared by UN Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space (UNOOSA) + NASA Radioisotope Power Systems Program (NASA/DOE)

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.