Pioneer 10

***Pioneer 10*** is a space probe launched by NASA on March 2 1972. Its aims were to study the planet Jupiter as well as the edges of the Solar System. The spacecraft also carried one of two plaques, the Pioneer plaques. On the plaques were images that held some information about humans and Earth. The other plaque was on _Pioneer 11_. The plaques were designed by a team lead by Carl Sagan to communicate with extraterrestrial life should the spacecraft come into contact with it.

It was launched on March 3, 1972 at 01:50:00 UTC (March 2 local time), by an Atlas-Centaur expendable vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

On July 15, 1972, _Pioneer 10_ became the first spacecraft that entered the asteroid belt, and then on February 15, 1973, _Pioneer 10_ exited the asteroid belt.  During this period, the spacecraft did encounter some asteroid hits, although fewer than expected.

_Pioneer 10_ was the first spacecraft that explored the fifth planet from the Sun, Jupiter. Photography of Jupiter began November 6, 1973, at a range of 25,000,000 kilometers (16,000,000 mi), and about 500 images were transmitted. On December 4, 1973, _Pioneer 10_ made the closest approach with Jupiter at a range of 132 250 km (82 180 miles). During the mission, the on-board instruments were used to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter, the solar wind, cosmic rays, and eventually the far reaches of the Solar System and heliosphere. In 1976, _Pioneer 10_ passed Saturn's orbit, on February 11, 1979 it passed Uranus's orbit, on April 25, 1983 it passed Pluto, and on June 13, 1983, _Pioneer 10_ became the first spacecraft that passed Neptune's orbit.

The mission came to an official end on March 31, 1997, when _Pioneer 10_ was by that time at a distance 67 AU, which is 6.2 billion miles from the Sun or 10 billion km from the Sun.

On February 17, 1998, _Pioneer 10_ was surpassed in the distance to the Sun by _Voyager 1_ at the distance 70 AU (6.5 billion miles or 10.4 billion km) from the Sun.

There's not communication with the space probe anymore; the last contact was on January 23, 2003 and on March 2, 2006 a final attempt at contact failed. This was the last time _Pioneer 10_ was aligned with Earth, and no further contact would be possible.

By 2019, _Pioneer 10_ was predicted to exit the heliosphere and enter interstellar space.

On July 18, 2023, _Pioneer 10_ is predicted to be surpassed in the distance from the Sun by _Voyager 2_ at the distance 133.93 AU (around 12.45 billion miles or around 20.036 billion km) from the Sun.

## Infobox (spaceflight/ip)

- **type**: flyby
- **object**: Jupiter


## Infobox (spaceflight/instruments)

- **acronym1**: HMV
- **name1**: Helium Vector Magnetometer
- **acronym2**: -
- **name2**: Quadrispherical Plasma Analyzer
- **acronym3**: CPI
- **name3**: Charged Particle Instrument
- **acronym4**: CRT
- **name4**: Cosmic Ray Telescope
- **acronym5**: GTT
- **name5**: Geiger tube telescope, Geiger Tube Telescope
- **acronym6**: TRD
- **name6**: Trapped Radiation Detector
- **acronym7**: -
- **name7**: Meteoroid Detectors
- **acronym8**: AMD
- **name8**: Asteroid/Meteoroid Detector
- **acronym9**: -
- **name9**: Ultraviolet Photometer
- **acronym10**: IPP
- **name10**: Imaging Photopolarimeter
- **acronym11**: -
- **name11**: Infrared Radiometer


## Infobox (spaceflight)

- **name**: Pioneer 10
- **image**: File:An artist's impression of a Pioneer spacecraft on its way to interstellar space.jpg
- **image caption**: An artist's drawing of a Pioneer spacecraft in space
- **mission type**: Outer Solar System and
heliosphere exploration
- **operator**: NASA / Ames Research Center, ARC
- **cospar id**: 1972-012A
- **satcat**: 5860
- **website**: [https://web.archive.org/web/20041105100336/http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNhome.html Pioneer Project website] <small>(archived)</small>
 [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/pioneer/ NASA Archive page]
- **mission duration**: (active)  (in orbit)
- **manufacturer**: TRW Inc., TRW
- **launch mass**: 258 kg
- **power**: 155 watts (at launch)
- **launch date**: at 01:49:04 UTC
- **launch site**: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral Spaceport Florida Launch Complex 36, LC-36A
- **last contact**: Last telemetry April 27, 2002; last signal received
- **insignia**: Pioneer 10 - Pioneer 11 - mission patch - Pioneer patch.png
- **insignia size**: 150
- **programme**: _Pioneer program, Pioneer_
- **previous mission**: _Pioneer 9_
- **next mission**: _Pioneer 11_