Pioneer 10: The First 6 Billion Miles
Explanation:
Q: What was made by humans and is 6.5 billion miles away?
A: Pioneer 10 -
and last year was
the 25th anniversary of its launch.
More than 9.5 light-hours distant,
Pioneer 10 is presently about twice as far from the Sun
as Pluto,
bound for interstellar space at 28,000 miles per hour.
The distinction of being the
first human artifact to venture beyond the Solar System
is just one in a long list of firsts for
this spacefaring ambassador, including;
the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt
and explore the outer
Solar System,
the first spacecraft to
visit Jupiter,
the first to use a planet's gravity to change its course and to reach
solar-system-escape velocity,
and the first spacecraft to pass beyond the known planets.
Pioneer 10's mission is nearing an end - now exploring the
distant reaches
of the heliosphere
it will soon run out of sufficient
electrical power to operate science instruments.
However, the 570 lb. spacecraft will continue to coast and
in 30,000 years or so it will pass within about 3 light years
of a nearby star known as Ross 248.
Ross 248 is a faint red dwarf just over 10 light years distant in
the constellation Taurus.
(Note: This year
Voyager 1, launched 21 years ago but traveling
faster than Pioneer 10, became humanity's most distant spacecraft.)
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
