Post by glactus on Apr 18, 2011 3:56:57 GMT
When the interplanetary probe Pioneer 10 left Earth on March 2, 1972, it was indeed off on a pioneering mission. In fact, the spacecraft led the way to all exploration of deep space.
Pioneer 10 in deep space
Since passing the outer planets, despite dwindling power onboard, Pioneer 10 has been sending back information by radio as it heads into interstellar space. Eventually it will fly into the so-called heliopause, that part of space where the Sun's influence ends and true interstellar space begins. No spacecraft from Earth has reached there yet.
Pioneer 10 at Jupiter
At that distance, it takes more than 11 hours and 20 minutes for a radio signal, traveling at the speed of light, to reach Earth.
Pioneer 10's speed relative to the Sun is 27,380 mph (12.24 km/sec).
The position of Pioneer 10
The probe's mission ended in November 1995 when its last communication was received. Its RTG nuclear power source is exhausted. At that time, it was four billion miles (6.5 billion km) from Earth. Without power, Pioneer 10 no longer could make scientific observations so NASA terminated routine mission operations. There have been no communications with Pioneer 10 since November 1995.
The onboard plaque
Today, the spacecraft is traveling at a distance of 7.6 billion miles from Earth. To astronomers, that distance is about 82 AU away. That's 82 times the nominal distance between the Sun and the Earth.
AU is short for Astronomical Unit. One AU is equal to the distance from the Earth to the Sun -- about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers
Pioneer 10
Credits: These are NASA images
Pioneer 10 in deep space
Since passing the outer planets, despite dwindling power onboard, Pioneer 10 has been sending back information by radio as it heads into interstellar space. Eventually it will fly into the so-called heliopause, that part of space where the Sun's influence ends and true interstellar space begins. No spacecraft from Earth has reached there yet.
Pioneer 10 at Jupiter
At that distance, it takes more than 11 hours and 20 minutes for a radio signal, traveling at the speed of light, to reach Earth.
Pioneer 10's speed relative to the Sun is 27,380 mph (12.24 km/sec).
The position of Pioneer 10
The probe's mission ended in November 1995 when its last communication was received. Its RTG nuclear power source is exhausted. At that time, it was four billion miles (6.5 billion km) from Earth. Without power, Pioneer 10 no longer could make scientific observations so NASA terminated routine mission operations. There have been no communications with Pioneer 10 since November 1995.
The onboard plaque
Today, the spacecraft is traveling at a distance of 7.6 billion miles from Earth. To astronomers, that distance is about 82 AU away. That's 82 times the nominal distance between the Sun and the Earth.
AU is short for Astronomical Unit. One AU is equal to the distance from the Earth to the Sun -- about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers
Pioneer 10
Credits: These are NASA images