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W4DPH > SAT 02.03.03 13:28l 49 Lines 1986 Bytes #999 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS-061.01
Read: DB0FHN GUEST
Subj: Pioneer 10, SK
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Sent: 030302/1117Z @:W4DPH.#TPA.FL.USA.NOAM #:48720 [CLW] FBB $:ANS-061.01
From: W4DPH@W4DPH.#TPA.FL.USA.NOAM
To : SAT@AMSAT
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 061.01 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. March 2, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-061.01
Pioneer 10, the first spacecraft to venture out of the solar system,
has fallen silent after traveling billions of miles from Earth on a
mission that has lasted nearly 31 years, NASA said Tuesday.
What was apparently the spacecraft's last signal was received Jan. 22
by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Space Network. At the time,
Pioneer 10 was 7.6 billion miles from Earth; the signal, traveling at
the speed of light, took 11 hours and 20 minutes to arrive.
The signal and the two previous signals were very faint. The Deep Space
Network heard nothing from Pioneer 10 during a final attempt at
contact on Feb. 7. No more attempts are planned.
Pioneer 10 was launched March 2, 1972, on a 21-month mission. It became
the first spacecraft to pass through the asteroid belt and the first
to obtain close-up images of Jupiter. In 1983, it became the first
manmade object to leave the solar system when it passed the orbit of
distant Pluto.
Although Pioneer 10's mission officially ended in 1997, scientists
continued to track the TRW Inc.-built spacecraft as part of a study of
communication technology for NASA's future Interstellar Probe mission.
Pioneer 10 hasn't relayed telemetry data since April 27.
"It was a workhorse that far exceeded its warranty, and I guess you
could say we got our money's worth," said Larry Lasher, Pioneer 10
project manager at NASA's Ames Research Center.
Pioneer 10 carries a gold plaque engraved with a message of goodwill
and a map showing the Earth's location in the solar system. The
spacecraft continues to coast toward the star Aldebaran in the
constellation Taurus. It will take 2 million years to reach it.
The Pioneer home page is
http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNhome.html
[ANS thanks Florida Today for the above information.]
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