Pioneer 10

Chronology

Mission timeline

1. March 3, 1972, 01:49:00 UTC

   Launch

   Pioneer 10 launched

   The launch/orbital page gives a Launch Date/Time of 1972-03-03T01:49:00Z on an Atlas-Centaur from Cape Canaveral, United States.

   Earth
2. December 4, 1973, 02:25:00 UTC

   Flyby

   First spacecraft to investigate the planet Jupiter

   The master catalog page gives the closest approach as 04 December 1973 at approximately 2.8 Jovian radii (about 200,000 km). The launch/orbital page times it to 1973-12-04 02:25:00 and prints 2.85 AU, the only unit its own Apside Definitions table defines; the same page for Pioneer 11 defines RJ as Jovian radii (1 RJ = 71,398 km) and prints 1.60 RJ in the same place. READ AS THE PERIAPSIS BY INFERENCE, NOT BY READING: that table flattens to five headers followed by three values — Periapsis Apoapsis Period Inclination Eccentricity 2.85 AU 13.800° 0.00000 — so which column 2.85 AU sits in is taken from its position as the first value, and from the degree sign and the bare decimal that identify the last two. The record follows the master catalog and the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved.

   Jupiter
3. March 31, 1997

   Milestone

   Routine tracking and project data processing terminated

   Routine tracking and project data processing operatations were terminated on 31 March 1997 for budget reasons.

4. April 27, 2002

   Milestone

   Last successful data acquisition through the Deep Space Network

   The last successful data acquisitions through NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) occurred on 03 March 2002, the 30th anniversary of Pioneer 10's launch date, and on 27 April 2002.

5. January 23, 2003

   Loss of contact

   Spacecraft signal last detected

   The spacecraft signal was last detected on 23 January 2003 after an uplink was transmitted to turn off the last operational experiment, the Geiger Tube Telescope (GTT), but lock-on to the sub-carrier signal for data downlink was not achieved.

6. February 2003

   Mission end

   Final contact attempt

   No signal at all was detected during a final attempt on 06-07 February 2003. Pioneer Project staff at NASA Ames then concluded that the spacecraft power level had fallen below that needed to power the onboard transmitter, so no further attempts would be made. The page prints a two-day range, so this event is recorded at month precision.

Mission architecture

Vehicles

• Pioneer 10 · Spacecraft · The spacecraft signal was last detected on 23 January 2003

  Destinations: Jupiter