| NASA Center: |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
|---|
| Image # : |
PioneerFlyby |
|---|
| Date : |
03/07/1972
|
|---|
|
Title
Pioneer 10 Trajectory
Full Description
This image, drawn in 1970, is an artist's rendering of the
Pioneer 10 spacecraft trajectory, with the planets labeled and
a list of the instruments that were intended to be flown. Before
the use of computer animation, artists were hired by JPL and
NASA to depict a spacecraft in flight, for use as
a visual aid to promote the project during development. Pioneer
10 was managed by NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field,
California. The Pioneer F spacecraft, as it was known before
launch, was designed and built by TRW Systems Group, Inc. JPL
developed three instruments that flew on the spacecraft:
Magnetic Fields, S-Band Occultation, and Celestial Mechanics; as
well as running the Deep Space Network which provided tracking
and data system support. Caltech was responsible for the Jovian
Infrared Thermal Structure experiment. Pioneer was very
successful, crossing the orbit of Mars and the asteroid belt
beyond it; encountering, studying, and photographing Jupiter;
then crossing the orbits of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. It left
the solar system in 1983 and has been contacted several times in
the past few years. As of July 2001, the spacecraft was still
able to send a return signal to Earth. At Jupiter, the
experiments of Pioneer were used to examine the environmental
and atmospheric characteristics of the giant planet. Pioneer was
also the vital precursor to all future flights to the outer
solar system. It determined that a spacecraft could safely fly
through the asteroid belt. It also measured the intensity of
Jupiter's radiation belt so that NASA could design future
Jupiter (and other outer planets) orbiters.
Keywords
Jupiter Pioneer Unmanned P-14197Bc
Subject Category
Space Probes
Reference Numbers
- Center:
JPL
- Center Number:
PioneerFlyby
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2003-00066
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASA
- Original Source: NASA
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
Thumbnail |
JPEG |
43 |
30 |
2 |
Small |
JPEG |
348 |
238 |
22 |
Medium |
JPEG |
726 |
496 |
71 |
Large |
JPEG |
1452 |
992 |
188 |
Other relevant NASA Web sites:
• NASA Headquarters
• NASA History Office
• NASA Image eXchange (NIX)
• NASA Multimedia Gallery
• NASA Human Spaceflight
Updated October 31, 2002
• History Questions: NASA History Office
• Responsible NASA Official: Steve Garber
• Author: Michael Hahn. Editor: Dwayne A. Day
• Curator & Technical Questions: Erin Needham
• NASA's Privacy Statement
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