Non-exhaustive list of artificial objects that are travelling faster than the Sun’s escape velocity: they are on their way to leave the solar system.
Although both Voyager 1 and 2 have left the heliosphere to coast into interstellar space (in August 25, 2012 and November 5, 2018 respectively), they will physically leave the solar system after going past the Oort Cloud in several thousands of years. There are no means of tracking the spent stages and mission-related debris (e.g. de-spin weights) but they are probably on a similar trajectory.
Additionally, other objects will probably acquire enough kinetic energy to leave the Solar system after one or several close fly-bys of planets. For instance, the Ulysses Solar probe is thought to be slingshot out of heliocentric orbit during one of its next encounters with the Jovian system.
Estimated number of artificial objects: 11
Estimated total mass: 2.7 tons
| COSPAR ID | name | type | mission | quantity | dry mass (kg) | status | date/epoch (UTC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972-012C | STAR 37E #40016 | Booster (3rd stage) | PIONEER 10 | 1 | 83.1 | discarded | 3-Mar-72 |
| 1972-012A | PIONEER 10, PIONEER F | Deep space probe | PIONEER 10 | 1 | 222 | EOM, defunct | 23-Jan-03 |
| 1973-019A | PIONEER 11, PIONEER G | Deep space probe | PIONEER 11 | 1 | 222 | EOM, defunct | 30-Sep-95 |
| 1977-076C | STAR 37E #40065 | Booster (4th stage) | VOYAGER 2 | 1 | 83.1 | discarded | 20-Aug-77 |
| 1977-076A | VOYAGER 2 | Deep space probe | VOYAGER 2 | 1 | 735 | active | 20-Aug-77 |
| 1977-084C | STAR 37E #40066 | Booster (4th stage) | VOYAGER 1 | 1 | 83.1 | discarded | 5-Sep-77 |
| 1977-084A | VOYAGER 1 | Deep space probe | VOYAGER 1 | 1 | 735 | active | 5-Sep-77 |
| 2006-001C | STAR 48B | Booster (3rd stage) | NEW HORIZONS, NEW FRONTIERS 1 | 1 | 123.8 | discarded | 19-Jan-06 |
| 2006-001C | YO-YO DE-SPIN MASS (NEW HORIZONS) | Cables w/ weights | NEW HORIZONS, NEW FRONTIERS 1 | 2 | 0.014 | discarded | 19-Jan-06 |
| 2006-001A | NEW HORIZONS | Deep space probe | NEW HORIZONS, NEW FRONTIERS 1 | 1 | 401 | active | 19-Jan-06 |