Stardust

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

Registry id GCAT_S25618 · source layer gcat · provenance PROCESSED — derived deterministically from source catalogues (unit, frame and epoch conversions, cross-source reconciliation) — no value invented

Exists from 1999-02-07 21:04:14 UTC (JD 2451217.37795) — no end date is recorded.

Open Stardust 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
Radius2.4 mno published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Mass339 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. This object has 25 legs; the table shows the first and last 12 and counts the rest.

FromToFrameGeometry Source arc
1999-02-07 21:31:00 UTC (JD 2451217.396527778)1999-02-11 03:53:00 UTC (JD 2451220.6618055557)EARTHno geometry in this legsatcat
1999-02-11 03:53:00 UTC (JD 2451220.6618055557)2001-01-12 20:41:00 UTC (JD 2451922.361805556)SOLorbithcocat
1999-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2451238.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2000-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2451604.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2001-01-12 20:41:00 UTC (JD 2451922.361805556)2001-01-18 01:53:59 UTC (JD 2451927.5791666666)EARTHno geometry in this leglprcat
2001-01-18 01:53:59 UTC (JD 2451927.5791666666)2004-01-02 19:22:59 UTC (JD 2453007.3076388887)SOLorbithcocat
2001-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2451969.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2002-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2452334.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2003-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2452699.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2004-01-02 19:22:59 UTC (JD 2453007.3076388887)2004-01-02 19:25:59 UTC (JD 2453007.309722222)SBDB_1000107no geometry in this leglprcat
2004-01-02 19:25:59 UTC (JD 2453007.309722222)2006-01-12 18:57:59 UTC (JD 2453748.2902777777)SOLorbithcocat
2004-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2453065.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
… 1 further leg omitted here. The registry holds all 25; the scene draws them.
2006-01-12 18:57:59 UTC (JD 2453748.2902777777)2006-01-18 00:57:59 UTC (JD 2453753.5402777777)EARTHno geometry in this leglprcat
2006-01-18 00:57:59 UTC (JD 2453753.5402777777)2009-01-12 04:40:00 UTC (JD 2454843.6944444445)SOLorbithcocat
2006-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2453795.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2007-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2454160.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2008-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2454526.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2009-01-12 04:40:00 UTC (JD 2454843.6944444445)2009-01-17 10:30:00 UTC (JD 2454848.9375)EARTHno geometry in this leglprcat
2009-01-17 10:30:00 UTC (JD 2454848.9375)2011-02-15 04:38:59 UTC (JD 2455607.6937499996)SOLorbithcocat
2009-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2454891.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2010-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2455256.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2011-02-15 04:38:59 UTC (JD 2455607.6937499996)2011-02-15 04:41:00 UTC (JD 2455607.695138889)SBDB_1000093no geometry in this leglprcat
2011-02-15 04:41:00 UTC (JD 2455607.695138889)open-endedSOLorbithcocat
2011-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2455621.5)open-endedSOLorbithorizons

Classification

Kindprobe
Originartificial (made by humans)
Operating nationUSA
Operator classgovernmental
Launch site codeCC
Launch vehicleDelta 7426-9.5
Launch outcomesuccess
UN registrationregistered with the United Nations — USA · ST/SG/SER.E/360
Planetary protectiontarget SBDB_1000093 · contact class none_flyby · COSPAR category unclassified_body under the policy in force at launch (unclassified_body under the 2026 policy) · documentation: undocumented — a DOCUMENTATION fact, never a compliance verdict
Separated fromGCAT_S25620 on 1999-02-07 21:31:00 UTC (JD 2451217.396527778)
3-D modelcarries a published mesh

The catalogue's own note

S25618 #25618 1999-003A · aka NAIF029 · JPL/US · mfr LMA/DENV · bus Space Probe · op EEO · dry 254 kg · category PLAN · class C · program Discovery · a/e/i GCAT; Ω,ω,M₀ not in GCAT → placeholder spread (ω = 0; display only) [GCAT] · decides on board [autonomy: autonomous-navigation]: navigates itself from its own observations — AutoNav — Chose its own camera pointing through the Wild 2 encounter by tracking the nucleus in images it had just taken, on a loop far too fast for ground control. [Bhaskaran 2012]

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.