Lunar Flashlight

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

Registry id GCAT_S54697 · source layer gcat · provenance PROCESSED — derived deterministically from source catalogues (unit, frame and epoch conversions, cross-source reconciliation) — no value invented

Exists from 2022-12-11 07:38:13 UTC (JD 2459924.81821) — no end date is recorded.

Open Lunar Flashlight 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
Radius0.45 mno published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Mass14 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 28 legs; the table shows the first and last 12 and counts the rest.

FromToFrameGeometry Source arc
2022-12-11 08:31:22 UTC (JD 2459924.855115741)2022-12-11 21:59:59 UTC (JD 2459925.4166666665)EARTHorbitsatcat
2022-12-11 21:59:59 UTC (JD 2459925.4166666665)2023-06-22 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460118.302083333)EARTHorbitdeepcat
2023-06-22 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460118.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithcocat
2023-06-22 19:15:00 UTC (JD 2460118.302084333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2023-08-08 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460165.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2023-09-24 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460212.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2023-11-10 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460259.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2023-12-27 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460306.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2024-02-12 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460353.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2024-03-30 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460400.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2024-05-16 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460447.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2024-07-02 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460494.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
… 4 further legs omitted here. The registry holds all 28; the scene draws them.
2025-02-22 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460729.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2025-04-10 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460776.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2025-05-27 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460823.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2025-07-13 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460870.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2025-08-29 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460917.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2025-10-15 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2460964.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2025-12-01 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2461011.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2026-01-17 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2461058.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2026-03-05 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2461105.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2026-04-21 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2461152.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2026-06-07 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2461199.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons
2026-07-24 19:14:59 UTC (JD 2461246.302083333)open-endedSOLorbithorizons

Classification

Kindprobe
Originartificial (made by humans)
Operating nationUSA
Operator classgovernmental
Launch site codeCC
Launch vehicleFalcon 9
Launch outcomesuccess
UN registrationregistered with the United Nations — USA · ST/SG/SER.E/1096
Planetary protectiontarget Sol · contact class none · COSPAR category none_no_target under the policy in force at launch (none_no_target under the 2026 policy) · documentation: na_prepolicy — a DOCUMENTATION fact, never a compliance verdict
Separated fromGCAT_S54698 on 2022-12-11 08:31:22 UTC (JD 2459924.855115741)

The catalogue's own note

S54697 #54697 2022-168B · JPL/US · mfr JPL · bus Cubesat 6U · op CLO · category PLAN · class C · program JPL Deep Cube · 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 2023-08-30, a=0.9605 au e=0.0422 i=0.07°, covering 2023-06-22..open [JPL Horizons]

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.