Where is pioneer 10 2011

At UT Nov. By Dec. It had already begun imaging as early as Nov. Command-and-return time was up to 92 minutes by this time. The spacecraft passed by a series of Jovian moons, obtaining photos of Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa but not of Io, as the photopolarimeter succumbed to radiation by that time. Between Nov. Still operating nominally, Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit of Neptune then the outermost planet on June 13, , thus becoming the first human-made object to go beyond the furthest planet. NASA maintained routine contact with Pioneer 10 for over two decades until UT March 31, , when the spacecraft was 67 AU from Earth when routine contact was terminated due to budgetary reasons.

Intermittent contact, however, continued, but only as permitted by the onboard power source, with data collections from the Geiger tube telescope and the charged particle instrument.

Until Feb. The spacecraft returned its last telemetry data April 27, , and less than a year later, on Jan. That signal took 11 hours and 20 minutes to reach Earth. By Nov. The spacecraft is generally heading in the direction of the red star Aldebaran which forms the eye of the Taurus constellation.

It is expected to pass by Aldebaran in about two million years. Pioneer 10 is heading out of the solar system in a direction very different from the two Voyager probes and Pioneer 11, i. Although lost to contact forever, Pioneer 10 continues its endless journey through interstellar space.

It's headed in the general direction of Aldebaran , the brightest star in constellation Taurus, forming the bull's eye. So Pioneer 10's mission, originally intended to go 21 months, lasted 25 years and change. As project manager Larry Lasher said, "I guess you could say we got our money's worth. Image: Since becoming the first human-made object to travel to Pluto, Pioneer 10's signals have been lost.

Courtesy Don Davis. The magnetometer consisted of a helium-filled cell mounted on a 6. Peered through a hole in the large dish-shaped antenna to detect particles of the solar wind originating from the Sun. Detected cosmic rays in the Solar System.

Collected data on the composition of the cosmic ray particles and their energy ranges. Surveyed the intensities, energy spectra, and angular distributions of electrons and protons along the spacecraft's path through the radiation belts of Jupiter. Included an unfocused Cerenkov counter that detected the light emitted in a particular direction as particles passed through it recording electrons of energy, 0.

Twelve panels of pressurized cell detectors mounted on the back of the main dish antenna recorded penetrating impacts of small meteoroids. Meteoroid-asteroid detector looked into space with four non-imaging telescopes to track particles ranging from close-by bits of dust to distant large asteroids. Ultraviolet light was sensed to determine the quantities of hydrogen and helium in space and on Jupiter.

The imaging experiment relied upon the spin of the spacecraft to sweep a small telescope across the planet in narrow strips only 0. These strips were then processed to build up a visual image of the planet.

Provided information on cloud temperature and the output of heat from Jupiter. Template:Multiple image. Map comparing locations and trajectories of the Pioneer 10 blue , Pioneer 11 green , Voyager 1 red and Voyager 2 purple spacecraft, as of The third stage consisted of a solid fuel TE developed specifically for the Pioneer missions.

This stage provided about 15, pounds of thrust and spun up the spacecraft. Twenty minutes following the launch, the vehicle's three booms were extended, which slowed the rotation rate to 4. This rate was maintained throughout the voyage. After the high-gain antenna was contacted, several of the instruments were activated for testing while the spacecraft was moving through the Earth's radiation belts. Ninety minutes after launch, the spacecraft reached interplanetary space. Template:Sfn Pioneer 10 passed by the Moon in 11 hours Template:Sfn and became the fastest human-made object at that time.

Template:Sfn Two days after launch, the scientific instruments were turned on, beginning with the cosmic ray telescope. After ten days, all of the instruments were active.

During the first seven months of the journey, the spacecraft made three course corrections. The on-board instruments underwent checkouts, with the photometers examining Jupiter and the Zodiacal light , and experiment packages being used to measure cosmic rays, magnetic fields and the solar wind. The only anomaly during this interval was the failure of the Canopus sensor, which instead required the spacecraft to maintain its orientation using the two Sun sensors.

While passing through interplanetary medium , Pioneer 10 became the first mission to detect interplanetary atoms of helium. It also observed high-energy ions of aluminum and sodium in the solar wind. On July 15, , Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to enter the asteroid belt, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

One of the nearest approaches was to the asteroid Nike on December 2, No fragments larger than a millimeter were observed in the belt, indicating these are likely rare; certainly much less common than anticipated. As the spacecraft did not collide with any particles of substantial size, it passed safely through the belt, emerging on the other side about February 15, Testing of the imaging system began, and the data was successfully received back at the Deep Space Network.

A series of 16, commands were then uploaded to the spacecraft to control the flyby operations during the next sixty days. The orbit of the outer moon Sinope was crossed on November 8. The magnetopause was passed through a day later. The spacecraft instruments confirmed that the magnetic field of Jupiter was inverted compared to that of Earth. By the 29th, the orbits of all of the outermost moons had been passed and the spacecraft was operating flawlessly.

Red and blue pictures of Jupiter were being generated by the imaging photopolarimeter as the rotation of the spacecraft carried the instrument's field of view past the planet.

These red and blue colors were combined to produce a synthetic green image, allowing a three-color combination to produce the rendered image. On November 26, a total of twelve such images were received back on Earth. By December 2, the image quality exceeded the best images made from Earth.

These were being displayed in real-time back on Earth, and the Pioneer program would later receive an Emmy award for this presentation to the media. The motion of the spacecraft produced geometric distortions that later had to be corrected by computer processing. Template:Sfn During the encounter, a total of more than images were transmitted. The trajectory of the spacecraft took it along the magnetic equator of Jupiter, where the ion radiation was concentrated.

Template:Sfn Peak flux for this electron radiation is 10, times stronger than the maximum radiation around the Earth. Template:Sfn Starting on December 3, the radiation around Jupiter caused false commands to be generated. Most of these were corrected by contingency commands, but an image of Io and a few close ups of Jupiter were lost. Similar false commands would be generated on the way out from the planet. Template:Sfn Nonetheless, Pioneer 10 did succeed in obtaining images of the moons Ganymede and Europa.

The image of Ganymede showed low albedo features in the center and near the south pole, while the north pole appeared brighter. Europa was too far away to obtain a detailed image, although some albedo features were apparent. The trajectory of Pioneer 10 was chosen to take it behind Io, allowing the refractive effect of the moon's atmosphere on the radio transmissions to be measured.

Close-up images of the Great Red Spot and the terminator were obtained. Communication with the spacecraft then ceased as it passed behind the planet. Template:Sfn The radio occultation data allowed the temperature structure of the outer atmosphere to be measured, showing a temperature inversion between the altitudes with 10 and mbar pressures.

Template:Sfn The spacecraft generated an infrared map of the planet, which confirmed the idea that the planet radiated more heat than it received from the Sun. Crescent images of the planet were then returned as Pioneer 10 moved away from the planet. Template:Sfn As the spacecraft headed outward, it again passed the bow shock of Jupiter's magnetosphere. As this front is constantly shifting in space because of dynamic interaction with the solar wind, the vehicle crossed the bow shock a total of 17 times before it escaped completely.

Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit of Saturn in and the orbit of Uranus in