April 5, 2013

Image Caption: An artist's impression of a Pioneer spacecraft on its way to interstellar space. Image credit: NASA Ames

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

NASA is celebrating the 40th birthday of the Pioneer 11 spacecraft. For the past four decades, Pioneer has been hurtling through space, capturing satellite images of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. As its predecessor, Pioneer 10 had launched just over a year before and was the first spacecraft to not only leave the inner Solar System, but make the trip to Jupiter as well.

Pioneer 11, launched on April 5, 1973, surpassed its predecessors achievements before it was ultimately lost in 1995.

According to a NASA tribute, the Pioneer 11 was originally intended only as a backup spacecraft for the Pioneer 10. The only difference between the two crafts was the addition of a Flux-Gate Magnetometer.

Following a successful fly-by of Jupiter by Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 was rerouted mid-flight to expand on its predecessors mission. Using Jupiters gravitational pull as a sling shot, the astronomers at NASAs Ames Research Center in California directed Pioneer 11 towards Saturn.

The NASA tribute also remembers the discussion carried on internally about the path of Pioneer 11. The Ames team wanted to send it much closer to Jupiter than the 10 had gotten. Though this decision was opposed by several team members on the Pioneer 11 team, it ultimately did pass just 26,097 miles above Jupiters atmosphere, nearly 5 times closer than its predecessor, Pioneer 10, which passed by at about 124,000 miles.

As Pioneer 11 passed by Jupiter, it was able to photograph the poles and capture some very detailed shots of the famous Red Spot.

Still reeling from the debate about which path Pioneer 11 would take past Jupiter, the Ames astronomers again began to discuss which path the spacecraft would take on its voyage to Saturn. NASAs Voyager 1 and 2 missions were launched two years prior to Pioneer 11s arrival at Saturn and were already heading towards the asteroid belt. As the Voyager duo cost much more than the Pioneers relatively simple makeup, some members of the team wanted to use 11 as a sort of a crash test dummy to ensure Voyager 1 wouldnt be destroyed on its way to Saturn.

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NASA Celebrates 40th Anniversary Of Pioneer 11