Citizendia

Pioneer 10

Artist's Concept of Jupiter Encounter
OrganizationAmes Research Center - NASA
Mission typeFly-by, Deep Space
Flyby ofJupiter (December 3, 1973 (1973-12-03); 12609 days ago), Outer Solar System
Launch date1972-03-03 at 01:49:00 UTC (13249 days ago)
Launch vehicleAtlas/Centaur/TE364-4
Mission durationundefined (11283 days from launch to last contact)
(last contact January 23, 2003 (2003-01-23); 1966 days ago)
Mass258 kg

Pioneer 10 (Pioneer-F) was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt, which it entered on July 15, 1972, and to make direct observations of Jupiter, which it passed by on December 3, 1973. Events 1800 - War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden, French Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by Gravity. Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1284 - Statute of Rhuddlan incorporated the Principality of Wales into England 1575 - Indian Events 393 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. A spacecraft is a Vehicle or machine designed for Spaceflight. The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the Planets Mars and Jupiter. Events 1099 - First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1800 - War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden, French Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. It was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 36A on March 2, 1972. The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS is a detachment of the 45th Space Wing (45 SW Patrick AFB provides headquarters functions from the 45 SW a major airfield Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 36 ( LC-36) was a launch complex at Cape Canaveral, Merritt Island, Florida. Events 986 - Louis V becomes King of the Franks. 1127 - Assassination of Charles the Good Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Pioneer 10 is heading in the direction of Aldebaran, located in Taurus. Aldebaran ( α Tau α Tauri Alpha Tauri is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus and one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky Taurus (it looks like a bull (ˈtɔrəs bull, symbol, Unicode ♉ is one of the Constellations of the Zodiac. By some definitions, Pioneer 10 has become the first artificial object to leave the solar system (third cosmic velocity). The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by Gravity. In Physics, escape velocity is the speed where the Kinetic energy of an object is equal to the magnitude of its Gravitational potential energy It is surely the first human-built object to have been set upon a trajectory leading out of the solar system. However, it still has not passed the heliopause or Oort cloud. The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the Interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the Galaxy) by the The Oort cloud ( ort alternatively the Öpik-Oort Cloud) is a hypothetical spherical cloud of Comets believed to lie roughly 50 000 AU,

Its objectives were to study the interplanetary and planetary magnetic fields; solar wind parameters; cosmic rays; transition region of the heliosphere; neutral hydrogen abundance; distribution, size, mass, flux, and velocity of dust particles; Jovian aurorae; Jovian radio waves; atmosphere of Jupiter and some of its satellites, particularly Io; and to photograph Jupiter and its satellites.

Contents

Construction

Pioneer probe design
Pioneer probe design

Approved in 1969, Pioneer 10 and its sister ship Pioneer 11 were designed to live up to their names: as first-time explorers intended to both gather data and report on conditions in the asteroid belt and in Jupiter-space; how they fared would be critical in the planning and technology of any future missions. Pioneer 11 was the second mission (after its sister probe Pioneer 10) to investigate Jupiter and the Outer solar system and the first to explore the planet The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the Planets Mars and Jupiter. See also Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. The Voyager program consists of a pair of unmanned scientific probes Voyager 1 and [1]

Pioneer 10 was managed as part of the Pioneer program out of NASA Ames Research Center and was built by TRW. The US Pioneer program of Unmanned space missions was designed for planetary exploration NASA Ames Research Center (ARC is a NASA facility located at Moffett Federal Airfield, which covers 43 acres at the borders of the cities of Mountain View TRW Incorporated was an American Corporation involved in a number of businesses mostly defense-related but including Automotive, Aerospace and [2] It was light, at only 260 kg—30 and 27 kg of which were instruments and fuel, respectively. [3] Like the Voyagers, it was powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (SNAP-19s) containing plutonium-238, which provided 155W at launch, and 140W by the Jupiter flyby. A radioisotope thermoelectric generator ( RTG, RITEG) is an Electrical generator which obtains its power from Radioactive decay. Plutonium 238, is a Radioactive isotope of Plutonium with a half-life of 87 The RTGs were mounted well away from the body to prevent their radiation from interfering with the spacecraft's instruments. Radiation, as in Physics, is Energy in the form of waves or moving Subatomic particles emitted by an atom or other body as it changes from a higher energy [4]

Pioneer 10 was fitted with a plaque to serve as a message for extraterrestrial life, in the event of its discovery. The Pioneer plaques are a pair of Gold anodized Aluminum plaques which were placed on board the 1972 Pioneer 10 and 1973 Extraterrestrial life is Life originating outside of the Earth.

A model of Pioneer 10 is on display at the "Milestones of Flight" exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The National Air and Space Museum (NASM of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington D [5]

Instruments

Instruments on the Pioneer 10 probe included:

Mission

Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to encounter Jupiter in December, 1973. A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of the Magnetic field in the vicinity of the instrument In Physics, a charged particle is a particle with an Electric charge. For the 1962 Bruce Conner film see Cosmic Ray (film Cosmic rays are energetic particles originating from space that impinge on The Geiger Tube Telescope is a scientific instrument that measures the intensities energy spectra and angular distribution of energetic Electrons and Protons in interplanetary Ultraviolet ( UV) light is Electromagnetic radiation with a Wavelength shorter than that of Visible light, but longer than X-rays In the broadest sense a photometer is any instrument used to measure Illuminance or Irradiance. A radiometer is a device for measuring the radiant flux (power of Electromagnetic radiation. The spacecraft then made valuable scientific investigations in the outer regions of our solar system until the end of its mission on March 31, 1997. The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by Gravity. Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar

Further contact

Pioneer 10's weak signal continued to be tracked by the Deep Space Network as part of a new advanced concept study of chaos theory. The Deep Space Network, or DSN, is an international network of communication facilities that supports Interplanetary Spacecraft missions and In Mathematics, chaos theory describes the behavior of certain dynamical systems – that is systems whose state evolves with time – that may exhibit dynamics that After 1997 the probe was used in the training of flight controllers on how to acquire radio signals from space. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar

The last successful reception of telemetry was on April 27, 2002; subsequent signals were barely strong enough to detect. Telemetry (synonymous with Telematics) is a Technology that allows the remote measurement and reporting of Information of interest to the system designer Events 1124 - David I becomes King of Scotland. 1296 - Battle of Dunbar: The Scots are defeated See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Loss of contact was probably due to a combination of increasing distance and the spacecraft's steadily weakening power source, rather than structural failure of the craft.

The last, very weak signal from Pioneer 10 was received on January 23, 2003, when it was 7. Events 393 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. 5 billion miles (12 billion kilometres) from Earth. [6]

A contact attempt on February 7, 2003 was not successful. Events 457 - Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1074 - Battle of Montesarchio in which the Prince Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.

One final attempt was made on the evening of March 4, 2006, the last time the antenna would be correctly aligned with Earth. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. No response was received from Pioneer 10. [7]

Pioneer 10 is heading in the direction of the star Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus at roughly 2. Aldebaran ( α Tau α Tauri Alpha Tauri is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus and one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky Taurus (it looks like a bull (ˈtɔrəs bull, symbol, Unicode ♉ is one of the Constellations of the Zodiac. 6 AUs per year. If Aldebaran had zero relative velocity, it would take Pioneer 10 about 2 million years to reach it. In Kinematics, relative velocity is the vector difference between the velocities of two objects as evaluated in terms of a single Coordinate [8]

Timeline

Pioneer 10 mission
Pioneer 10 mission
Pioneer 10 Jupiter encounter
Pioneer 10 Jupiter encounter
Current location and trajectories of Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft
Current location and trajectories of Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft

Pioneer anomaly

Main article: Pioneer anomaly

Analysis of the radio tracking data from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft at distances between 20–70 AU from the Sun has consistently indicated the presence of a small but anomalous Doppler frequency drift. The Pioneer anomaly or Pioneer effect is the observed deviation from expectations of the trajectories of various Unmanned spacecraft visiting the Outer Pioneer 11 was the second mission (after its sister probe Pioneer 10) to investigate Jupiter and the Outer solar system and the first to explore the planet The Doppler effect (or Doppler shift) named after Christian Doppler, is the change in Frequency and Wavelength of a Wave for The drift can be interpreted as due to a constant acceleration of (8. 74 ± 1. 33) × 10−10 m/s2 directed towards the Sun. Although it is suspected that there is a systematic origin to the effect, none has been found. As a result, there is growing interest in the nature of this anomaly.

Gallery

Pioneer 10 in the final stage of construction

Launch of Pioneer 10

Jupiter by Pioneer 10 (Image A5)

Close-up image of Jupiter by Pioneer 10 (Image A7)

Jupiter by Pioneer 10 (Image A28)

Jupiter by Pioneer 10 (Image A50)

Jupiter by Pioneer 10 (Image A51)

The plaque on board the Pioneer spacecraft

Fictional references

References

  1. ^ William E. Burrows, Exploring Space, (New York: Random House, 1990), p. 266-8.
  2. ^ NASA mission profile
  3. ^ Ibid. , p. 271.
  4. ^ Ibid. , pp. 271-2.
  5. ^ Milestones of Flight. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
  6. ^ "This Month in History", Smithsonian magazine, June, 2003.
  7. ^ The final attempt to contact Pioneer 10
  8. ^ Spacecraft escaping the Solar System

See also

External links

Events 324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic