Deep space probe says farewell

Scruff

bye bye Pioneer 10.
Was strangely hit by a twinge of sadness when i read this article from bbc sci\tech.

All in all it was a remarkable space craft.

After more than 30 years in space heading away from Earth, Pioneer 10 has sent its last signal home.

Pioneer 10 heads for deep space
The distant emissary, over 12 billion kilometres away, will now disappear into the galaxy.

Pioneer's last, very weak signal was received on 22 January, after which US space agency (Nasa) engineers reported that its power source had decayed such that it might not be capable of sending another message.

Because of this, Nasa has said it has no further plans to contact Pioneer 10.

The spacecraft will be left to drift among the stars carrying a message on its side from the creatures that made it.

Nasa's Larry Lasher adds: "Originally designed for a 21-month mission, Pioneer 10 exceeded all expectations and lasted more than 30 years."

Pioneer 10 was launched on 2 March, 1972, on a three-stage Atlas-Centaur rocket, reaching the speed of 52,150 km per hour needed for the flight to Jupiter.

It was the fastest object to leave the Earth, being fast enough to pass the Moon in 11 hours and to cross Mars' orbit, about 80 million km away, in just 12 weeks.

In July, 1972, Pioneer 10 entered the asteroid belt becoming the first spacecraft to pass through it.

At last contact, Pioneer 10 was 12.2 billion km from Earth, or 82 times the normal distance between the Sun and the Earth.

At that distance, it takes more than 11 hours and 20 minutes for the radio signal, travelling at the speed of light, to reach the Earth.

Like a ghost ship, Pioneer 10 will continue to coast silently through space, heading for the red star Aldebaran.

It will take Pioneer 10 more than 2 million years to reach it. Its sister ship, Pioneer 11, ended its mission in September 1995, when the last transmission from the spacecraft was received.

Both Pioneer spacecraft and Voyagers 1 and 2 could outlast the Earth.

Long after our Sun has swollen into a red giant and destroyed our planet, these four spacecraft will still be drifting silently amongst the stars, almost forever.

hope some nasty Klingons dont blow them up though!

Stark

wait it's about to sing its final goodbyes:

goodbye, goodbye, auf viedersen farewell.

po0k

She has served her purpose. Good craft.
Slán

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

azezil

maybe an advanced mechanical species will pick it up and base its entire civilisation around it, then one day make its way back to earth leaving a trail of destruction in its wake!


veeeeeeggeerrrr

Zukustious

Farewell to the Pioneer. Yeah. I have nothing else to say. Oh well.