Positive rate From Australia, joined Sep 2001, 2143 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (10 years 3 months 11 hours ago) and read 1911 times:
NASA were expecting to lose contact with Pioneer 10 soon anyway i think. It's nuclear power supply was virtually depleted and it's signal was getting weaker and weaker every time they communicated with the spacecraft. They lost contact with Pioneer 11 some time back so now it's just Voyager 1 and 2 with whom JPL communicates with on a daily basis. Although Pioneer 10/11 were launched first, Voyager 2 is actually the most distant man made object ever made. They are estimated to last for another 10 years or so before failing.
SailorOrion From Germany, joined Feb 2001, 2058 posts, RR: 6 Reply 2, posted (10 years 3 months 11 hours ago) and read 1896 times:
Those were the times, I wish GWB and the European leaders would cut off some 20 billion from the defense budget and shove it into NASA/ESA to get space exploration running.
Thank you Pioneer 10, for many many wonderful pictures.
She was only 258kg heavy, and had a power output of 165W; nevertheless it was heard from a distance of about 80 AU with a signal level of 185dBm.
I wonder when someone comes and plunks it into our backyard "Ey, we think you lost something", or it comes back on its own (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, anyone?)
Danialanwar From Switzerland, joined Mar 2001, 421 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (10 years 3 months 10 hours ago) and read 1869 times:
Scientist were hoping to track it as long as possible to see whether this craft is also being slowed down by an unknown force as is happening to Pioneer 11 and the Voyagers.
I agree with SailorOrion. More money more missions. The proposed Pluto-Kuiper mission would be one of interest, however it is about to be axed from what I've read.
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MxCtrlr From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 2485 posts, RR: 40 Reply 4, posted (10 years 3 months 8 hours ago) and read 1818 times:
Actually, I just read on Space.com (I think that was it) that they have been given the go-ahead with the Pluto/KBO mission. Construction start in 2004, launch in 2006, rendevous with Pluto 2015.
Actually, I feel that any significant manned space exploration will have to come from private funding and private companies. The time for that is long overdue.
MxCtrlr
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GDB From United Kingdom, joined May 2001, 12715 posts, RR: 80 Reply 5, posted (10 years 3 months 4 hours ago) and read 1718 times:
Never were two spacecraft so aptly named, these simple craft paved the way for Voyager, they discovered that radiation near Jupiter was much worse than thought, without that data, the much more sophisticated Voyagers would have been knocked out, as it happened, they could be redesigned.
Pioneer 11, after encountering Jupiter in 1974, did a gravity assist to fly across the Solar system to meet Saturn years later, before the Voyagers, which Pioneer had not been designed for.
They were only supposed to last a few years anyway.
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