NASA to contact Pioneer 10 again
Posted: Thu, Feb 28, 2002, 8:05 AM ET (1305 GMT)
NASA will attempt to contact the Pioneer 10 spacecraft this weekend after eight months of silence, the Ames Research Center said Wednesday. On March 2 — the 30th anniversary of Pioneer 10's launch — NASA will use a Deep Space Network antenna in Spain to transmit a signal to the spacecraft and listen for a response. NASA is no longer in regular contact with the spacecraft, now nearly 80 AU (12 billion kilometers) from the Sun; the round-trip travel time for signals from the Earth is 22 hours. The last contact with the spacecraft was in July 2001. The spacecraft was the first to travel through the asteroid belt and fly by Jupiter. Scientists are continuing to study data returned by the spacecraft's Geiger-Tube Telescope instrument, measuring cosmic ray activity in an effort to detect the heliopause the boundary between interplanetary and interstellar space.
NASA will attempt to contact the Pioneer 10 spacecraft this weekend after eight months of silence, the Ames Research Center said Wednesday. On March 2 — the 30th anniversary of Pioneer 10's launch — NASA will use a Deep Space Network antenna in Spain to transmit a signal to the spacecraft and listen for a response. NASA is no longer in regular contact with the spacecraft, now nearly 80 AU (12 billion kilometers) from the Sun; the round-trip travel time for signals from the Earth is 22 hours. The last contact with the spacecraft was in July 2001. The spacecraft was the first to travel through the asteroid belt and fly by Jupiter. Scientists are continuing to study data returned by the spacecraft's Geiger-Tube Telescope instrument, measuring cosmic ray activity in an effort to detect the heliopause the boundary between interplanetary and interstellar space.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
SpaceX launches Starlink satellites in final launch of 2024
Posted: Sat, Jan 4 8:39 AM ET (1339 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Tuesday, January 7
New Glenn Launch Targeting No Earlier Than January 10
Blue Origin — 4:57 am ET (0957 GMT) AST SpaceMobile Announces Agreement for Long-Term Access to up to 45 MHz of Premium Lower Mid-Band Spectrum in the United States for Direct-to-Device Satellite Applications
Business Wire — 4:56 am ET (0956 GMT) Why AST SpaceMobile stomped into Ligado's spectrum mess
Light Reading — 4:56 am ET (0956 GMT) AST SpaceMobile Acquires Radio Spectrum for Cellular Satellite Service
PC Magazine — 4:56 am ET (0956 GMT) Spectrum Operator Ligado Files for Bankruptcy Amid Government Dispute
Wall Street Journal — 4:56 am ET (0956 GMT) |
