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Mission record

Helios 1

Also known as Helios-A

NASA · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

Helios 1 was a joint German-American deep-space mission to study the main solar processes and solar-terrestrial relationships. Its instruments were designed to investigate phenomena in regions between Earth's orbit and approximately 0.3 AU from the Sun.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Titan IIIE-Centaur
Launch site
Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 41
Countries
Germany, United States
Mission types
Heliophysics, Orbiter

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Orbit insertion

    Entered its heliocentric science orbit after launch

    Derived day-level anchor: NASA classifies Helios 1 as an orbiter, and NASA's native trajectory product provides heliocentric coordinates beginning on the launch date. No more precise orbit-entry instant is asserted.

    Sun

  2. Launch

    Helios 1 launched

    Earth

  3. Milestone

    Final cruise spin-up

    NAIF construction report dates the final spin-up. Nominal60rpm does not determine a measured body phase.

    Sun

  4. Mission end

    Reported final operational date

    NAIF reconstruction report gives this date; NASA history mentions science data throughlate1982. The1981-1986kernel is explicitly predicted.

    Sun

  5. Milestone

    Dipole deployment anomaly reported

    NSSDCA documents one shorted antenna axis and monopole operation; exact failure instant, side and deployed length remain unresolved.

    Sun

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Helios 1 · Spacecraft

    Destinations: Sun

Trajectory record

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: December 10, 1974 to March 16, 1986

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • Helios 1: Estimated · December 10, 1974 to March 16, 1986

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through October 11, 2026