Pioneer 10 Finally Dead After 28 Years? 235
BorgiaPope writes: "Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute's Project Phoenix writes a sad, elegiac piece in Slate about the apparent final silence of Pioneer 10, launched in 1972 and now more than 7 billion miles from Earth. For the past five years, SETI scientists at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico have used the incredibly faint signals from Pioneer 10 to test the functionality of their noise filtering gear. Alas, Tarter reports that Pioneer 10 hasn't been heard from for several days now. The incredibly hardy, long-lived satellite, which long ago surpassed NASA's wildest expectations for its power supplies and other systems, may finally have drifted peacefully into eternal slumber . . . ." I think the Klingons got it.
How things change (Score:2)
These days we get probes that are so blind that they crash into planets.
Re:Win 98 dies after 49 days (Score:1)
Would you buy a car which was doomed to crash after 49 days, so long as the manufacture provided a patch for it?
Something that crashes after 49 days is embarassing, no matter who did it. Sure, bring up the point about RedHat. Its embarassing for Redhat too. It makes NO difference except perclating your vain pride in a crappy software.
Re:Drift peacefully into eternal slumber ??? (Score:1)
28 *years*? (Score:5)
...and you think you've got uptime!
Seriously, it's a testament to the engineering skill of the people who built, launched and operated this particular piece of machinery. Amazing work!
Re:Star Trek V (Score:1)
Re:Pioner Plaque ingraving outliving humanity? (Score:1)
The Best Klingon Joke In The World (Score:1)
A: They both circle uranus, fighting to wipe out klingons!
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CitizenC
Re:Drift peacefully into eternal slumber ??? (Score:1)
To think that the guys that put Pioneer 10 into space were probably still using slide-rulers and those $500 pocket calculators that could only add, subtract, multiply and divide, and they built a space probe that crossed over 7 BILLION miles and ran for 28 YEARS is pretty amazing. Even if it never DID anything.
When was the last time you bought a vehicle that went 7,000,000,000 miles without a tune up? Or for that matter, what was the last piece of technology you bought that is still operating EVERY SINGLE DAY even after 28 years?
I have a Mitsubishi 52" TV built in 1982 and every day when I turn it on, I'm amazed to see it still function properly. It didn't cost quite as much as Pioneer 10, but it sure seemed like it did!
Pioneer (Score:1)
shame (Score:1)
Mark [zwienenberg.com]
Mark [zwienenberg.com]
Re:Who'll own it? (Score:1)
Re:P'neer (Score:1)
heh
Re:Drift peacefully into eternal slumber ??? (Score:1)
-Erik
Re:Pioneer 10 used an intel 4004 microprocessor (Score:2)
Pioneer 10 Instruments
Helium Vector Magnetometer (F)
Plasma Analyzer (P/L)
Charged Particle Instrument
Cosmic Ray Telescope
Geiger Tube Telescope
Trapped Radiation Detector (P/L)
Meteoroid Detector (ENC)(F)
Asteroid-Meteoroid Experiment (ENC)(F)
Ultraviolet Photometer
Imaging Photopolarimeter (ENC) (P/L)
Infrared Radiometer (F)
(this info comes from here [ttu.edu], which also has info on it's brother pioneer 11, which died in Dec '95)
find it (Score:1)
Mark [zwienenberg.com]
Mark [zwienenberg.com]
Re:Get your carbon-based appetisers here!! (Score:1)
Eh, it will probably be covered up by some other planet's government in a Roswell-like incident.
Re:Let's do the math! (Score:1)
Re:Pioneer Plaque engraving outliving humanity? (Score:1)
Damn, I've been doing something wrong then ...
Re:Sadly... (Score:1)
(anyway, the parent was funny to any *nix fans, i think you got hit by the non linux zealot moderators)
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dd if=/dev/random of=~/.ssh/authorized_keys bs=1 count=1024
Re:Star Trek V (Score:1)
Was pioneer 10 the thing the klingons destryed in Star Trek 5? Why was a bird of prey so close to Earth? (STV ~ 2290, about 320 years at 7billion miles/28 years, or 250,000,000 mile a year, 80 billion miles, or about 0.01 light years.
It fell into a quantum plot hole, and re-appeared in the delta quadrant.
--
Humanity's legacy...free porn! (Score:1)
Re:Win 98 dies after 49 days (Score:2)
Because 99.99999% of it's users shut it down each night when they go to bed? Nobody CARES if the OS stays up for more than 49 days or not. We run Linux on most servers at work, NT on the workstations and I run Win98SE at home. Crashing is not a problem on ANY of these OS's. I can't understand how people have the energy to talk about it over and over and over and OVER again. I'm *MUCH* more interested in what kind of applications are avaiable and what I can do with those (or our clients). User friendliness has NOTHING to do with if the OS stays up for 49 days or not - for a server sure, but not for a client OS.
And it has absolutely nothing at all to do with a space probe.
Would you buy a car which was doomed to crash after 49 days, so long as the manufacture provided a patch for it?
If the car ran for 49 CONSECUTIVE DAYS without turning off the engine, I wouldn't care if it would crash after that. I - myself - only run for about 48 hours straight and after that I can shut off my computer. In any case, you're comparing apples to oranges.
Re:Linus and Lucy (Score:1)
Pioner Plaque ingraving outliving humanity? (Score:5)
"
We expect Pioneer to last an indeterminate period of time, probably outlasting its home planet, the Earth. In 5 billion years, the Sun will become a red giant, expand, envelop the orbit of the Earth, and consume it. Pioneer will still be out there in interstellar space. Erosional processes in the interstellar environment are largely unknown, but are very likely less efficient than erosion within the solar system, where a characteristic erosion rate, due largely to micrometeoritic pitting, is of the order of 1 Angstrom/yr. Thus a plate etched to a depth ~ 0.01 cm should survive recognizable at least to as distance ~ 10 parsecs, and most probably to 100 parsecs. Accordingly, Pioneer 10 and any etched metal message aboard it are likely to survive for much longer periods than any of the works of Man on Earth.
"
A picture of the plaque:
http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Project
That made me think, I hope you share the experience.
Defraggle
Head monkey
Dynamic League of discord POEE Cabal "Monkey"
Re:A truly noble venture (Score:1)
Actually I wouldn't prefer an American flag of Capitalism planted there either. =) A UN flag or something would be nice though.
Re:Pioneer 10 gone... (Score:1)
Perhaps we should try sending someone to reboot it?
Yes, "that's all"... (Score:1)
Probably. But that doesn't mean it had to reach 25000mph to leave Earth. If something has no method of self-propulsion along the way, then it must reach "escape velocity" to leave earth. But with propulsion, you can leave earth without exceeding 10mph.
A bullet might need to be fired at escape velocity to leave, but something being pushed all the way up doesn't.
retrieval of Pioneer (Score:1)
Re:Who'll own it? (Score:1)
Normally, NASA immediately hands-over hardware to the Smithsonian at the end of it's life. This certainly applied throughout Apollo where (I believe) the material at the lunar landing sites for A11, 12, 14, 15, 16 & 17 are already the property of the Smithsonian... They just have to go pick 'em up :-)
Note that since the Smithsonian is a federal entity as is NASA, ownership of hardware remains with the Government at all times.
I'd imagine that deep-space probes would follow this precedent; I certainly can't see the US Government allowing private individuals/companies or foreign nation states to just wade on in and pick 'em up and sell to the highest bidder...
On the other hand, any state/company/individual with the ability to do so would possibly not give a fig what the US Government says anyway...
Oh, and about the astronomical distances... In space, distance is easy, it's a function of how long you can be bothered to wait. It's astronomical *velocities* we ought to be celebrating...
Re:Win 98 dies after 49 days (Score:1)
If you really do not care about the issue so much then why do you bother to argue or paticipate in an argument? It is acceptable to be ignorant about an issue but to declaim your disinterest and ignorance about the issue so loudly is another matter.
User friendliness DOES have something to do with the workmanship of a product. If a product takes that much more effort to stay up, ESPECIALLY beyond the extent to which it is required, then it will DEFINITELY take the effort to excel in areas that is required. Failure in this area affects the availability of applications, once they are running.
Is the FAILURE of an OS, beyond a certain time duration:
(a) a request of Users?
(b) a FALSE generalisation by yourself to paclate your ZEALOUSNESS for mediocre software?
(c) an escape clause for people who develop mediocre software?
Ask yourself whose interest does it serve? Who profits from this upper limit?
If someone was about to set out on a journey, which was only going to be 10000 miles. He had no plans to travel any further than that. What do you think he would buy? A car which travels 10000 miles then stops permanently, or one which travels 20000 miles (and cast less than the former one)?
"Nobody CARES if the OS stays up for more than 49 days or not."
Do not shout your ignorance so loudly.
Rest in peace, Pioneer (Score:1)
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Every secretary using MSWord wastes enough resources
Re: (Score:1)
Re:It Died when? (Score:3)
God, I feel microscopic
Re:Star Trek V (Score:1)
That would have been funny if I didn't think you were so serious!
"Uptime" records for other machines ? (Score:1)
Does anyone know of specific examples for these ?
Any other machine types ?
28 Years on a 4004 (Score:2)
Re:Maybe signals can be picked up again next year? (Score:3)
Chances are not very good.
The problem is that the transmissions from Pioneer 10 are already just a smidge above the noise threshold for the receiving equipment. Even if things had gone exactly as planned, we'd have still lost contact with it next year.
It's amazing to think about the probe. It's the furthest any of our technology has travelled away from us.
It's still out there now, in the cold, cold, cold of space. It is truly swimming in a sea of stars. The Sun is barely brighter than the other stars in the sharp blackness. It still listening for the whispers of its masters, still waiting at their command. However, it can no longer hear from the people who have cared about it so much. It is all alone now. So far, far away from home.
As the years go on, it's heart, the RTG, will slowly cool, and the bus voltage will drop. At some point, the heartbeat of it's system clock will stop, and the little probe will sleep for eternity. Asleep among the stars.
Drift peacefully into eternal slumber ??? (Score:2)
It had a finite lifespan , accept it and move on
Re:Who'll own it? (Score:2)
Combining those two factors, by the time we have the capability to retrieve an object from deep space, the amount of deep space we'll have to search to find them will be just too big, unless we get really exotic and have technologies like endless quantities of nanospaceships with surveillance gear, perhaps.
Could somebody with more background in this stuff please comment?
Re:28 *years*? (Score:2)
Does uptime apply to a device containing no CPU?
As I recall, the Pioneer series doesn't contain a "true" programmable computer; it's more like a fancy sequence controller (built around LSI logic, natch). The Voyager series were the first (deep space) probes containing a programmable computer; they do have continuous uptime of 25-odd years).
Re:Cheaper, Better Faster? (Score:2)
At least one "FBC" project exceeded it's design lifetime by (as I recall) a factor of 4.
Mars Pathfinder's wee little cutie Sojourner rover had a design lifetime of 1 week (or was it 14 days, I can't recall). It ran for the best part of 2 months, and indeed it's believed Soujourner outlived the Pathfinder (renamed Sagan Station) home base which suffered a transmitter failure... Apparently, the fallback method of regaining contact was for Soujourner to "orbit" Pathfinder at a fixed distance (10 metres?) constantly re-trying to connect; it's been speculated that when we finally get to Mars we might find a deep circular track worn in the dust by Sojourner's continuous circuits...
A nice idea, but highly improbable.
Its not dead yet (Jim) (Score:3)
to tell. Theres a difference between *dead* and
a signal so faint that any misalignment makes it
impossible to receive.
Pioneer 10
(Launched 2 March 1972)
Distance from Sun (1 October 2000): 76.18 AU Speed relative to the Sun: 12.24 km/sec (27,380 mph) Distance from Earth: 11.34 billion
kilometers (7.047 billion miles) Round-trip Light Time: 21 hours 00 minutes
The latest Pioneer activity was on September 10, when DSS 63 tracked the spacecraft. The station was not able to acquire the downlink.
However, there was a report of two momentary receiver glitches at the Pioneer 10 frequency. This report was encouraging, since it means that
the spacecraft signal is there, but it is still off Earth point. The Earth look angle (ELA) is estimated to be over 1.4 degrees. The downlink signal
strength drops off rapidly after 1.0 degree. The Earth is just starting to go back towards the PN 10 spin axis. As the year continues, the Earth
will be closer in alignment with the spacecraft pointing and the tracking stations should be able to regain lock. We anticipate this to be about
the middle of December. Our latest calculation of the ephemeris yields: Right Ascension = 76.27 degrees, Declination = 25.91 degrees.
Since Pioneer 10 is over 75 AU distant and its telemetry signal is virtually at the limit of overall communication system's link margin, the
spacecraft was chosen as a convenient test vehicle for the new methodology of Chaos theory. Chaotic.com has been testing the applicability of
new methods in semi-blind signal estimation and noise reduction using Pioneer 10 signals. From the latest progress report by Richard. R.
Holland of chaotic.com, there are two main areas of development: algorithm development and data analysis. Currently NASA and JPL are
working with chaos.com to resolve issues regarding the data analysis. Keep tuned to this web-site for future progress reports on chaos theory
and Pioneer 10.
Re:Let's do the math! (Score:2)
Re:A truly noble venture (Score:2)
Right on. I'm firmly belive that the universe its just the inside of a giant marble, being played with by aliens. Well, it's just as sensible a theory as all the crackpot religious ones, ain't it?
Re:28 *years*? (Score:3)
Re:Who'll own it? (Score:2)
--
Re:Who'll own it? (Score:2)
Even if we could recover it, I don't think anyone should.
For the reason why, read this. [slashdot.org]
Thad
Re:Pioner Plaque ingraving outliving humanity? (Score:2)
URL NOT FOUND:
Sorry, the terrestrial body you requested could not be located in this solar system! The local star could be down, or the idiot inhabitants have destroyed themselves.
Please contact the Solar System Administrator if the problem persists.
Re:Follow up? - Deep Space 1 (Score:2)
Pioneer Launched On My Birthday (Score:4)
was launched on my birthday in 1972 (Mar 2). I've always sortof identified with it. Though I suppose we're obviously not life-force linked in some odd sci-fi way, because I'm still typ
Re:Star Trek V (Score:2)
Re:Cheaper, Better Faster? (Score:2)
It's longevity is due to it's simplistic design and it's RTG power sources. The most likely reason for it's (suspected) failure is the final exausting of those RTGs. The voltage has just finally dropped below the absolute minimum necessary to power the transmitter. It's been running very close to the limit for the last several years...
Re:Win 98 dies after 49 days (Score:2)
What about the other Pioneers which still work? (Score:2)
The NASA web site on the Pioneer projects is fascinating. 'http://spac epr ojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNStat
Also interesting is an image of the plaque on-board Pioneer, 'http:
Dr. Hans Mark on its longevity: (Score:2)
At the time, the engineers wanted to use the latest and greatest technology in Pioneer 10 -- a tape recorder -- to increase its data rate by an order of magnitude. He shot down the idea, because he wanted no moving parts in Pioneer 10.
The much-vaunted tape recorder device the young engineers wanted to use later failed after very brief forays in the next few projects, but Pioneer 10 has been around for all this time. All of science benefits from that decision.
The moral of the story to young engineers is clear: The latest isn't always the greatest. Sometimes you should sacrifice "bigger, better, faster" for reliability.
It's neat that Pioneer 10 lasted so long. I'm sorry to see it go. Of course, now that the Psychlos have it, they'll be after us for all of our gold, and it'll be another thousand years before we reclaim our planet and destroy Psychlo, but it'll all be worth it in the end.
Re:Maybe signals can be picked up again next year? (Score:3)
Not quite...I've read that last year sometime, Voyager 1 passed Pioneer 10 as the most distant craft...
Pioneer 10 used an intel 4004 microprocessor (Score:4)
Deriving fact from this article (Score:2)
There are a number of reasons why SETI equipment, even the Aracibo hardware did not pick it up, most of which have been touched on in previous comments. The problem as I see it is a premature conclusion from one reader and slashdot newsposters not reading the article submitted before posting, thereby leading to a loss in life (mine) rebutting said article.
Lastly, in the e-tip posted on the front page, there were MANY inaccuracies concerning the article, most of which were derived, of course by the tipsters imagination, on a single paragraph. If I'm correct, the posters paraphrase on said paragraph was twice the size of the original. My only real gripe here is not the fact that this is important, its not, the P10 will not really give us much data that we can use for the next few lifetimes if operational, but that a great site like
Please feel free to slam a 1 one me
Re:Maybe signals can be picked up again next year? (Score:3)
Re:Maybe signals can be picked up again next year? (Score:2)
Wait till mid December! (Score:2)
The latest Pioneer activity was on September 10, when DSS 63 tracked the spacecraft. The station was not able to acquire the downlink. However, there was a report of two momentary receiver glitches at the Pioneer 10 frequency. This report was encouraging, since it means that the spacecraft signal is there, but it is still off Earth point. The Earth look angle (ELA) is estimated to be over 1.4 degrees. The downlink signal strength drops off rapidly after 1.0 degree. The Earth is just starting to go back towards the PN 10 spin axis. As the year continues, the Earth will be closer in alignment with the spacecraft pointing and the tracking stations should be able to regain lock. We anticipate this to be about the middle of December. Our latest calculation of the ephemeris yields: Right Ascension = 76.27 degrees, Declination = 25.91 degrees.
Gravity's Angel (Score:2)
8 miles a second.
That's not unusual. Just remember, the thing that Voyager 10 flew very close to a planet or two that weighed several trillion trillion trillion tons. In the gravitational interaction between Voyager and, say, Jupiter, some of Jupiter's momentum was lost, which was Voyager's gain. The loss is not measurable by any equipment we have yet devised, but the effect on Voyager was spectacular, accelerating it to.... fancy that... around 8 miles a second. Go Newton!
Re:Actually,... (Score:2)
no, that would be "ah-aaaah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ahhh.... oh-ah-aaaah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah.... ah-aaah-ah-ah-ah-u-u-u-aah-AAAAH-aah-aah... aaah-aaah".
After careful reflection I would be inclined to agree with you. I still haven't figured out how to work in the percussion though (which is essential for the whole opening credits experience). Maybe I could insert a text block that sounded right when printed on a loud dot-matrix? Hmm....
--8<--
An ode (Score:2)
Oh, traveller Bold into the blackness you spread the light. In shroud of yourself sail the distance between the stars.
...with linebreaks, even! (Score:2)
Bold into the blackness
you spread the light.
In shroud of yourself
sail the distance between the stars.
Re:Pioneer 10 used an intel 4004 microprocessor (Score:2)
Fixing (Score:4)
It would make a pretty impressive museum piece - the first man made object to go out of the solar system, and them come back agin!
Re:Maybe signals can be picked up again next year? (Score:2)
So, if it failed to reposition itself, is there a chance that its signal will be picked up again within a year from now, when the earth moves back into the path of the signals?
That's possible, but unlikely. I haven't gone to the trouble of reading the article, but I can come up with three different ways they could have lost communication with the probe:
1. Transmitter failure.
2. Rotational jets (or whatever it uses to aim itself) failure.
3. Nudged off course/damaged by a chunk of rock (aka meteor/astroid).
I suppose that mainstream media will cover this somewhat, considering the number of years that the thing worked perfectly and the historical role it played.
--
Re:Maybe signals can be picked up again next year? (Score:2)
Yeah, right. This was a spectacular success, not a spectacular failure. Maybe a blurb on page 28...
Re:How things change (Score:2)
These days we get probes that are so blind that they crash into planets.
Stop looking through your rose-coloured glasses!
How much money was bugeted to NASA in the 70s compared to now? I'm sure it was a much higher percentage of the budget (or GDP or whatever). Of course if you've got money to burn you can build fantastic machines, but NASA is on a shoe string budget now (shame on you goverment!!) so of course the engineering will not be as "good".
And don't say that these things worked perfectly, they had problems too. Not every thing on Pioneer(s) worked and they had to use backups.
Probably the reason that it "lived" for so long is that they built in insane amounts of redundency in those things. They can no longer do that because of the costs involved, and besides, why spend $500m on one probe, when you can get two for $250 each?
Re:Win 98 dies after 49 days (Score:2)
Because you are off topic. I wanted to read about a space probe - not an operating system review where you say nothing that hasn't been said 1000 times before. "M$ sucks"
I'm not saying Windows (the 9x-series in particular) is a great OS - it's not. It's however nowhere near as bad as people seem to think here on Slashdot. For instance, like I said, I run Win98SE at home by choice. I have several Linux distros in my bookshelf, OS2/Warp4 and I could install Win2K if I wanted to. I've thought about Corel Linux.. But I'm still running Win98SE.. Why? Because it runs every single app I need and crashing is not a problem. I honestly can't rememeber when the OS would have crashed for me.. It's not a big deal for me and certainly not for the millions of "less than power users" out there.. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying "expect less! lower the quality". Once we get apps such as Photoshop, Premiere and IE for Linux, I'll be more than happy to switch!
Re:How things change (Score:2)
Re:Escape Velocity? (Score:3)
Last time I asked a friend who is studying these objects, he said that their characteristic is that they are mainly outside the orbit of Neptune, which is at about 30 AU. Where's Pluto? 40 AU? Anyway, it may be that there are Kuiper belt objects further out than this, but I think they generally have them a bit closer, but don't take my word for it.
However, the termination shock is believed to be about that distance (in my undergrad courses, a back-of-an-envelope calculation said 75AU, it's obviously inaccurate), but it is heading in the wrong direction, but Voayger may go through it [nasa.gov].
They'd better call Solar System-side Rescue (Score:4)
In other news, the Automobile Association announced that it would be reviewing the terms of its contract with customers. Under discussion is clause 12a, which reads:
12.a. The AA shall guarantee vehicle recovery and repair no matter the location and environmental conditions.An AA spokeperson said 'We will honour our existing contracts, but in future we may have to ask for an extra callout fee, depending on location.' The spokesperson refused to comment on the current state of NASA's account.
Re:Follow up? (Score:2)
Pioneer 10 is not a satellite (Score:2)
I can't take the credit, but... (Score:2)
http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/
Re:Pioner Plaque ingraving outliving humanity? (Score:5)
"Well, I think I've figured most of it out. These symbols here tell us that they live on the third planet around a pretty normal star."
"What about these squiggles?"
"Well, qrrq, that's the puzzling thing. It seems to be a depiction of the people who sent out the device. Looks like they've got two sexes - pretty normal - and they look a bit like the tree people of Alderaan V. But..."
"What?"
"Well, it seems these people spend their lives... naked."
"Naked?!?"
"Without clothes, that's right. There's no sign of them on the engraving..."
"No clothes?!?"
"Yes, it's hard to believe, but.."
"But how... how do they survive without clothes?"
"They have some hot regions on their planet, perhaps, where they can survive without clothes.."
"Not that, stupid. How do they communicate? How do they display their social standing? How can you possibly distinguish yourself without clothes?"
"Don't be zzttzztcentric. Just because we have expensive clothes with brand labels and all that stuff doesn't mean these people have to. Perhaps they're better off, not having to overstretch their budget to buy Clvvm Klnnnwwnw stuff for their kids and stuff like that.."
"So they don't have an economy?"
"Well, just not like ours. No stock options or stuff like that. I suppose they're a barter economy like we were 1000000 moons ago."
"But.."
"I know what your thinking - how can such a primitive economic system generate a space program? We can only assume that these people all contribute to the greater good, building space probes, comforted in the knowledge that they're contributing to science."
"Wow. What a peaceful place that must be!"
"Yes, I think we can learn a lot from these "Earth" people."
"Yeah. They must live like gods!"
Intel... (Score:2)
The real Threed's
--Threed
Re:Pioneer 10 gone... (Score:3)
I was lucky enough to see it as it left this world.
Its sad that its first mission is over but it still may complete its final mission of telling others about who created it.
Sleep Pioneer, you've got a long way to go.
Re:Actually,... (Score:2)
Re:Pioneer 10 is no satellite! (Score:2)
...phil
Re:Actually,... (Score:3)
Da Daaa da da da da Daaa.. Da da da da Daaa Daaa da da DAAAA da da da da Daaaaahhh.... Daaa da da da dadadada Daaaaaaaaadaaaa da da DA Da da dada DAAAA!!
What the fruck is this supposed to be?
It's the Star Trek theme from the OLD show! Don't you remember the Nomad episode?
--8<--
Let's do the math! (Score:3)
These figures are pretty impressive. Now let's do some more math. I'm no mathmatician so please feel free to contradict me. Here we go: It took 28 years for this probe to go 7 billion miles. So this means the probe travels 250 million miles per year. This would then translate into 684,932 miles per day or 28,539 mph. Let's be even more specific - this would factor out to 476 miles per minute or 8 miles per second. Now, that's a speedy craft isn't it? Your numbers may differ, as I divided 7,000,000,000 by 28 and divided that by 365 and I didn't factor in leap years and I rounded the numbers off just for convenience sakes. Nonetheless, when you break it down it is pretty cool.
RIP little guy... (Score:2)
Rest in peace little guy, we're all riding with you.
Re:Cheaper, Better Faster? (Score:3)
The main cause is that we did not know what the space environment was like, so we built that spacecraft like a tank. It could have been a much more sophisticated spacecraft if we had known more, but instead it was built like a tank.
The other main factor was Pioneer's source of power: four radioisotope thermoelectric generators.
A Memorial Haiku... (Score:2)
A little spacecraft
far away among the stars
rest well, pioneer
Cheaper, Better Faster? (Score:4)
28 years of operation, that is simply increadible!
I can't help but wonder if today's "Cheaper Better Faster" projects will last beyond their specs. Pioneer 10 like so much science before it has provided benifits that the originators never would have forseen.
To the engineers and scientists that built it, I take my hat of too you.
Actually,... (Score:2)
what is happening right now is the probe is being used as spare parts by a highly advanced AI robot probe. The two will merge and become something more powerful than any of it's creators ever imagined...
Da Daaa da da da da Daaa.. Da da da da Daaa Daaa da da DAAAA da da da da Daaaaahhh.... Daaa da da da dadadada Daaaaaaaaadaaaa da da DA Da da dada DAAAA!!
5 year mission, eh? I engineering projects are always behind schedule in the future too!
--8<--
A truly noble venture (Score:2)
I find it sad that the current administration at NASA are such small thinkers, who have no sense of the vast grandeur that is out there for the taking. What has happened to the days of projects which could excite the layman and scientist alike?
Sure, they've had their budget cut, but that's no excuse for their playing it safe attitude which has led to public apathy and even more budget cuts. And without someone taking an interest in space, how will we ever see all that the Lord has created?
Personally I think that NASA need to get back into the race for the stars before either the Europeans or the Chinese succeed where we have failed for a lack of drive and a sense of wonder. Surely we don't want the first men on Mars to plant the red flag of communism on such a brave new world?
---
Jon E. Erikson
Re:Let's do the math! (Score:3)
Anyway, the entire problem is ciomplicated by the fact the Sun's magnetic field is carried by the Solar wind, and there is believed to be an interstellar wind which interacts with the Solar wind. Because of these interactions and the shocks they cause, the heliosphere does not have a regular shape or size (its not really a sphere and its dimensions change over time depending on the conditions).
--
Re:Pioner Plaque ingraving outliving humanity? (Score:2)
Come slumber, enshroud me in your purple cloak. (Score:2)
Is your heart made of brass?
Have you no shame?
Then kiss my...
How can you say what you did and then claim it had a finite lifespan? There's some logical inconsistency there.
Its a pile of wires. But its loss is our own just as the wonders we saw through its instruments were.
A good article on deep space power generation (Score:3)
Here's a clicky-linky (Score:2)
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Pioneer 10 not gone for good after all (Score:4)
It seems that Pioneer 10's antenna pointing mechanism is not working well enough at the moment to accurately point its high-gain antenna at Earth. (It's apparently more than 1.4 degrees off, but we'll move into its beam again as the earth continues to orbit the sun -- projected time of reacquisition is December.) Once signal is reacquired, we'll see if JPL is able to fix the problem somehow, or if we'll be reduced to contacting Pioneer 10 only during certain times of the year when we happen to be within its signal cone.
Who'll own it? (Score:2)
Just a thought, but I hope that if we ever recover it as a symbol of us triumphing over the tyranny of astronomical distances, that it'd be placed into a museum (how much would the Smithsonian pay for this one?) or installed at the front of the UN. Perhaps there should be discussion - albeit farfetched for now - like those currently about the moon-landing site about drafting laws declaring them as historical monuments.
A HREF="http://www.debianplanet.org">DebianPlanet
To Quote Neil Young... (Score:2)
"The incredibly hardy, long-lived satellite, which long ago surpassed NASA's wildest expectations for its power supplies and other systems, may finally have drifted peacefully into eternal slumber . . .
<sigh>
We've been through some things together
With trunks of memories still to come
We found things to do in stormy weather
Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.
- Neil Young, Long May You Run
Maybe signals can be picked up again next year? (Score:3)
So, if it failed to reposition itself, is there a chance that its signal will be picked up again within a year from now, when the earth moves back into the path of the signals?
Farewell, you will be missed. (Score:3)
I usually aren't sentimental about non-sentient and man-made things, but somehow the image of being so unbelieveably far from the place of origin and from anything else is quite moving. In addition, it managed to survive far longer than anyone initially expected and gathered far more information than planned. All in all, it deserves respect and a place in the history of space exploration.
But there are still other probes out there, maybe they will even manage to survive as long or longer. I certainly wish so; we won't get anything new so far in near future and there are mysteries like where the influence of sun ends and interstellar space really beings to solve...