Pioneer 11

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Pioneer 11
An artist's impression of a Pioneer spacecraft on its way to interstellar space.
Mission typePlanetary and heliosphere exploration
OperatorNASA / ARC
COSPAR ID1973-019A
SATCAT no.6421
WebsitePioneer Project website(archived)
NASA Archive page
Mission duration22 years, 5 months, 25 days
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerTRW
Launch mass259 kilograms (571 lb)
Power155 watts (at launch)
Start of mission
Launch dateApril 6, 1973, 02:11:00 (1973-04-06UTC02:11Z) UTC
RocketAtlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1A Star-37E
Launch siteCape Canaveral LC-36B
End of mission
Last contactSeptember 30, 1995 (1995-10-01)
Flyby of Jupiter
Closest approachDecember 3, 1974
Distance43,000 kilometers (27,000 miles)
Flyby of Saturn
Closest approachSeptember 1, 1979
Distance21,000 kilometers (13,000 miles)
 

Pioneer 11 (also known as Pioneer G) was a NASA space probe to explore space and gather information. It was the second mission to visit Jupiter and the first mission to visit Saturn. The space probe was launched on April 5, 1973 and flew by Jupiter on December 2, 1974 and Saturn on September 1, 1979.

In 1983, Pioneer 11 was predicted to be surpassed by Voyager 1 in the distace to the Sun and later by Voyager 2 around March 1988.

The probe was last heard on November 24, 1995 when the last communication between Earth and the probe ended due to power limitation and vast diatance, when it was 44.1 AU (4.1 billion miles or 7.5 billion km) from Earth.[1][2]

By Nov. 5, 2017, Pioneer 11 was estimated to be about 97.590 AU (9.1 billion miles or 14.599 billion kilometers) from Earth.

Both Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 had plaques etched in gold. The plaques were designed by a team lead by Carl Sagan to communicate with extraterrestrial life should the spacecraft come into contact with it.

By 2027, Pioneer 11 is predicted to have exited the heliosphere and entered interstellar space.

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. "The Pioneer Missions". 3 March 2015. Archived from the original on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  2. "Pioneer 11: In Depth". Retrieved December 10, 2017.

Other websites[change | change source]