MarCO-A is catalogued in this registry as a probe, held in the frame of Earth, from GCAT — artificial space objects.
Registry id GCAT_S43458 ·
source layer gcat ·
provenance PROCESSED — derived deterministically from source catalogues (unit, frame and epoch conversions, cross-source reconciliation) — no value invented
Exists from 2018-05-05 11:05:01 UTC (JD 2458243.96182) — no end date is recorded.
Open MarCO-A 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 | 0.4 m | no published uncertainty in this registry | GCAT — artificial space objects |
| Mass | 13.5 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. This object has 53 legs; the table shows the first and last 12 and counts the rest.
| From | To | Frame | Geometry | Source arc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-05-05 12:37:59 UTC (JD 2458244.0263888887) | 2018-05-10 23:55:00 UTC (JD 2458249.496527778) | EARTH | no geometry in this leg | satcat |
| 2018-05-10 23:55:00 UTC (JD 2458249.496527778) | 2018-11-22 16:35:59 UTC (JD 2458445.1916666664) | SOL | orbit | hcocat |
| 2018-05-10 23:55:00 UTC (JD 2458249.4965287778) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons |
| 2018-05-18 23:53:59 UTC (JD 2458257.495833333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons |
| 2018-05-26 23:53:59 UTC (JD 2458265.495833333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons |
| 2018-06-03 23:53:59 UTC (JD 2458273.495833333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons |
| 2018-06-11 23:53:59 UTC (JD 2458281.495833333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons |
| 2018-06-19 23:53:59 UTC (JD 2458289.495833333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons |
| 2018-06-27 23:53:59 UTC (JD 2458297.495833333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons |
| 2018-07-05 23:53:59 UTC (JD 2458305.495833333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons |
| 2018-07-13 23:53:59 UTC (JD 2458313.495833333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons |
| 2018-07-21 23:53:59 UTC (JD 2458321.495833333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons |
| … 29 further legs omitted here. The registry holds all 53; the scene draws them. | ||||
| 2019-06-22 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458657.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-07-09 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458674.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-07-26 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458691.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-08-12 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458708.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-08-29 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458725.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-09-15 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458742.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-10-02 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458759.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-10-19 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458776.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-11-05 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458793.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-11-22 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458810.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-12-09 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458827.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| 2019-12-26 22:50:59 UTC (JD 2458844.452083333) | open-ended | SOL | orbit | horizons-predicted |
| Kind | probe |
|---|---|
| Origin | artificial (made by humans) |
| Operating nation | USA |
| Operator class | governmental |
| Launch site code | VS |
| Launch vehicle | Atlas V 401 |
| Launch outcome | success |
| UN registration | registered with the United Nations — USA · ST/SG/SER.E/877 |
| Planetary protection | target Mars · contact class none_flyby · COSPAR category III under the policy in force at launch (III under the 2026 policy) · documentation: undocumented — a DOCUMENTATION fact, never a compliance verdict |
| Separated from | GCAT_S43460 on 2018-05-05 12:37:59 UTC (JD 2458244.0263888887) |
S43458 #43458 2018-042B · aka Eve · JPL/US · mfr JPL · bus Cubesat 6U · op EEO · category PLAN · class C · program Mars Cubesat · a/e/i GCAT; Ω,ω,M₀ not in GCAT → placeholder spread (ω = 0; display only) [GCAT] · position from horizons (rank 3); hcocat also covers this period and is not retained, because it is the lower class (rank 1) — the not-retained set is hcocat epoch 2018-05-31, a=1.2210 au e=0.1744 i=2.24°, covering 2018-05-10..2018-11-22 · position from horizons (rank 3); hcocat also covers this period and is not retained, because it is the lower class (rank 1) — the not-retained set is hcocat epoch 2019-01-01, a=1.3690 au e=0.1695 i=1.40°, covering 2018-11-30..open [JPL Horizons]
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 | 2026-10-22 |
| Coverage | 99,132 objects; 2674 multisegment; 349 landed; debris archived, off by default; 1,801 failed-to-orbit objects placed at their launch sites (existence-windowed to their fall); uncatalogued (CSO/analyst) objects included; 38 marked-erroneous (ERR) phantom entries skipped; the extended US catalogue (SATCAT ≥ 100000) read as satcat; ISON/Vimpel optical objects absent from the US catalogue included (vimcat, keyed by V-JCAT; 1,035 rows naming a US-catalogue object folded onto it); 24,166 suborbital payloads (rcat, apogee ≥ 80 km) placed at their launch sites, existence-windowed launch → fall; their 61,509 stages and components archived, not baked; 23,018 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 80,406 objects (73,418 with minute-precise launch time); 103 deep-space trajectories refined by JPL Horizons navigation arcs (piecewise osculating elements, heliocentric cruise spans only) |
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