Pioneer spacecraft 10 and 11 were launched into space in 1972 and 1973, respectively. The main purpose of the space mission was to observe one of the planets of the solar system - Jupiter. The official mission of Pioneer 11 continued a little longer - until 1979, when he met with Saturn.
In order to stay in touch with space probes during missions and subsequently, the researchers used the so-called Deep Space Network, a system of deep space communications antennas located around the world. Contact was maintained until 1995 (with Pioneer 10) and 2003 (with Pioneer 11). Today, both space probes are about 2 times farther from the Sun than Pluto, and there has been no connection with them for a long time. But a number of mysteries that we managed to observe then have not been solved so far.
Once space probes got out of Saturn's gravity, their motion should have been determined mainly by the sun's gravity, with little influence from other planets and cosmic dust. The calculations took all these effects into account, but the researchers found that both spacecraft were moving towards interstellar space more slowly than expected. An analysis of the collected data, carried out in 2002, showed that an anomalous acceleration of about 10-9 m/s2 was observed, directed towards the Sun.
Scientists from all over the world offered various explanations for the discovered anomaly. Some of them were quite exotic, for example, including non-Newtonian gravity or various cosmological phenomena. Other explanations were based on physical laws - gas leakage or uneven heat radiation used on board nuclear power sources. However, "traditional" explanations suggested that the acceleration should decrease over time, and early analysis of the data did not reveal this decrease.
A more detailed analysis recently carried out by scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA) and drawing on more complete information about observations made several decades ago, including old records stored on punched cards, showed that a decrease in the anomaly is actually present. The scientists were able to collect detailed information on approximately 23.1 years of "life" for the Pioneer 10 and 10.75 years for the Pioneer 11 (compared to 11.5 and 3.75 years, respectively, available in previous studies). In addition, the Doppler analysis of frequencies took into account that after the spacecraft passed Jupiter, communication protocols were redesigned to simplify maintaining contact. Moreover, many changes were documented only in manuscripts. Also, individual stations of the Deep Space Network went out of order - instead of them, new ones were put into operation. The team even had to turn to archived earthquake data to take into account all even minor shifts of individual antennas that were part of the network.
The work done made it possible to state that there is a decrease in the anomaly. However, scientists cannot yet say whether it is linear or exponential; it is also impossible to determine exactly whether this acceleration is directed to the Sun or to the Earth.
At the next stage, scientists plan to conduct the same detailed analysis of the heat release of the devices in order to confirm their theory about the causes of the anomalies.
"Pioneer 10" is a unique spacecraft developed by NASA, which does without human control. Its mass was 260 kilograms, and its height was 2.9 meters. It was intended for detailed study.
"Pioneer-10"
This device justifies its name "Pioneer" one hundred percent, because this is the first spacecraft that flew near Jupiter so close that it was possible to photograph the planet. A little later, he ceased to be the only one, since practically his twin appeared - Pioneer 11, which was created for.
For the first time, Pioneer 10 went into space on the Atlas-Centaurus carrier on March 2, 1972. And already in 1973, the device crossed the asteroid belt for the first time. Explored a couple of asteroids and found a dust belt near Jupiter. Thanks to the fact that Pioneer 10 flew at a distance of only 132 thousand kilometers from the clouds of the planet, it was possible to learn many new facts about Jupiter. The exact mass of the planet was established, its magnetic field was measured, an analysis of the composition of the atmosphere was carried out, and it was also found that the amount of energy received from the Sun is 2.5 times inferior to the total heat flux of Jupiter. Pioneer 10 was useful not only in the study of Jupiter, but also of its satellites. For the four largest "fellow travelers" density was established.
"Interstellar letter" "Pioneer-10"
On the case of Pioneer-10 (and later Pioneer-11) there was a plate anodized with aluminum gold, 220 by 152 mm in size with symbolic data about a person, planet Earth and its location. The author of the drawing of a woman and a man was Carl Sagan's first wife, Linda Sagan.
The plate depicted: human figures in the form of a man and a woman, two basic states of the hydrogen atom, the Sun and its position relative to the center of the Galaxy and the distance to the nearest fourteen pulsars, the solar system is schematically depicted.
The fate of the device
In the future, the Pioneer-10 route was quite busy: in 1976 it crossed, in 1979 the orbit of Uranus was crossed, in 1983 on April 25 the device passed the orbit of Pluto, which was closer to the Sun than Neptune. In 1983, on June 13, the station crossed the orbit of the most distant planet in the solar system - Neptune.
The official end date for the Pioneer 10 mission was March 31, 1997. At that time, it was at a distance of 67 AU from the Sun, but at the same time continued to transmit data. The last information from the apparatus was received in 2002, and since then it has not been possible to catch standing signals from Pioneer-10. In 2009, the distance from the Sun increased to 100 AU.
On February 17, 1998, Pioneer 10 ceased to be the most distant spacecraft from the planet Earth, it was "bypassed" by Voyager 1.
Moving very far from the orbit of Neptune, the Pioneer-10 station began to slow down extremely slowly under the influence of a force of unknown origin. Subsequently, this phenomenon was called the "Pioneer effect". After many assumptions and arguments, it was found that the asymmetric thermal radiation of the Pioneer-10 became the cause of the acceleration.
The last time a quiet signal was received from Pioneer 10 was on January 23, 2003. At that time he was in 80 a.e. (12 billion kilometers) from Earth. There is information that it is directed towards Aldebaran. It is believed that he will reach this star in a couple of million years, unless, of course, nothing happens to him.
Launched on March 2, 1972, Pioneer 10 became the first artificial probe to explore Jupiter.
After 5 years, he left the solar system, and even when the scientific research program was completed (it happened on March 31, 1997), he still continued to transmit data on interplanetary radiation and the magnitude of the magnetic field. NASA made the decision not to shut down the probe's automatic system, given the fact that its radioisotope power source was still generating power.
Since then, NASA has periodically made attempts to establish contact with him. In April 2001, a signal was again sent to Pioneer 10, which returned 22 hours later. So, apparently, his condition is much better than what experts could assume. Last year, the probe was transmitting data received by the cosmic ray detector.
The way this probe moves in space is of great interest to scientists, since the observed slowdown of the Pioneer by the gravitational pull of the solar system alone, as it turned out, cannot be explained. This means that this circumstance can either serve as evidence of the existence of a force unknown to science so far, or be associated with some properties of the spacecraft itself. The fact is that an exact copy of this probe, Pioneer 11, whose task was to study Jupiter and Saturn, was launched in 1973, but in 1995 communication with it was interrupted.
Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to pass through the Asteroid Belt and make observations and surveys near Jupiter. To date, this most distant object of all man-made continues to be in interstellar outer space, moving towards the star Aldebaran (the constellation of Taurus).
On board the Pioneer-10 there is a 15x23 cm plate made of aluminum anodized with gold, with an engraved pictogram. It is mounted on poles that support the spacecraft's antenna so as to protect its surface from erosion caused by interstellar dust. As conceived by the developers, with its help, the alleged inhabitants of other star systems, which may be separated from us by millions of years, will be able to find out when, from where and by whom this device was launched.
At the top, two hydrogen atoms with opposite electron spins are shown schematically. The radiation wavelength of atomic hydrogen and its frequency are the basic units for all data in the diagram. All numerical data is written in binary form ("|" - one, "-" - zero). A bunch of diverging radial lines shows 14 pulsars, by the location of which one can understand that the homeland of the apparatus is the solar system.
The horizontal and vertical strokes at the ends of the rays correspond to the binary records of the distances from the Sun to each pulsar and the period of its emission. Since the period of emission of pulsars decreases at a constant rate, it is possible to determine the moment when Pioneer was launched. A long horizontal beam passing through the figures of people shows the distance from the Sun to the center of our Galaxy. At the bottom of the plate are the Sun itself (a large circle) and 9 planets (the dashed entries below and above them correspond to the binary notation of the distances to the Sun), as well as the trajectory of the apparatus moving away from the Earth, passing Mars and enveloping Jupiter.
The horizontal strokes above and below to the right of the female figure show her height (168 cm) and correspond to the wavelength of hydrogen (21 cm) multiplied by 8, the binary notation of which (one horizontal and three vertical strokes) is located to the right of the center of the female figure. Next to the male figure, Pioneer itself is schematically shown (the base unit in the form of a rectangle and the antenna in the form of a segment of a circle). This makes it possible to imagine the physical dimensions and appearance of the creatures that created the Pioneer. The man's hand is raised up, meaning both a greeting and goodwill.
Upon reaching the 1st cosmic velocity, the object will enter a closed orbit around a celestial body and remain there. Upon reaching the 2nd space velocity, the object will be able to overcome the gravitational attraction of this body and go to other planets. Upon reaching the 3rd cosmic velocity, the object will be able to leave the solar system forever and go to the stars...
To date, there are few such objects - only five devices have reached the 3rd space velocity and it is difficult to say when this list can be replenished. If some kind of global catastrophe happens on Earth, then it is possible that these devices will remain the only evidence of the existence of human civilization.
Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11
So. the first spacecraft to achieve sufficient speed to leave the solar system forever was Pioneer-10. Launched in March 1973, it followed a flyby trajectory near Jupiter and then headed towards the constellation Taurus. Communication with Pioneer 10 was lost in 2003 and is now at a distance of 108 AU. from the Sun and continues to move away from us at a speed of 2.536 AU. in year. It is assumed that in 2 million years, Pioneer 10 may pass near one of the stars included in the Hyades open cluster (where Aldebaran is located, by the way).
The second device was Pioneer-11, which was launched in April 1973. After studying Jupiter, the device was sent to Saturn, which was not originally part of NASA's plans - adjustments were made already during the flight. After passing near Saturn in 1979, no further course corrections were made and the craft set off on an eternal journey towards the constellation Aquila. Communication with the device was lost in 1995. It is now at a distance of 88 AU. from the Sun and continues to increase it annually by 2.396 AU, which makes it the slowest of the entire "five". It is assumed that in about 4 million years, Pioneer 11 may approach one of the stars of the constellation.
At the insistence Carla Sagan, shortly before the launch, an aluminum plate was placed on board the Pioneers with symbolic information about the Earth, its location (to obtain metric and time units on the plate, the radiation scheme of the hydrogen atom was reproduced, as well as a map of pulsars, on which the position of the Sun in the Galaxy was marked), and a schematic drawing of a person against the background of the device, so that hypothetical aliens can better imagine the scale.
Plate attached to Pioneer
Interestingly, subsequently the authors of the message were subjected to a flurry of criticism. They were accused of racism (after all, white people are depicted in the picture), pornography (after all, the people in the picture are naked - by the way, the image of a woman was censored by depriving the line that denoted the vulva), that the aliens would not be able to read it, that they would not be able to understand the meaning of the greeting gesture of the man in the picture, and in the end that it is not worth sending such information into space, because it can be dangerous.
Actually, the same picture engraved on the plate
It is worth noting that 9 planets of the solar system are drawn on the plate (because then Pluto was still considered a planet), and in the case of Pioneer-11, its trajectory is indicated incorrectly. After all, as already mentioned, the maneuver to Saturn was not planned, and in reality the device left the solar system along a trajectory that was actually opposite to that indicated.
And yet, if something happens to the Earth, and perhaps these records are all that will remind us of our existence. By the way, James Van Allen in his autobiography, he jokingly admitted that, shortly before the launch, he deliberately left his fingerprints on the body of Pioneer 10 in the hope that they would circle the center of our galaxy for millions of years and perhaps even outlive the Sun.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2
The famous Voyagers became the third and fourth devices that gained the 3rd cosmic speed. Launched in 1977, they first studied Jupiter and Saturn. Last goal Voyager 1 there was Titan - flying near the satellite, the device received a significant increase in speed due to the gravitational field, which ultimately made it the fastest of the entire five devices. Voyager 1 is currently at a distance of 124 AU. from the Sun and continues to move away from it annually by 3.593 AU, while moving in the same direction as the Sun. In 40722, the device will pass at a distance of 1.7 light years from the red dwarf AC+79 3888.
Concerning Voyager 2, then he lost part of the increase in speed received from Saturn during the flyby of Uranus, but then partially compensated for these losses due to the gravitational maneuver near Neptune. It is now at a distance of 102 AU. from the Earth and continues to move away annually by another 3.253 AU. Due to its greater speed, over time, it will overtake Pioneer 10 and become the second spacecraft farthest from the Sun, but Voyager 1 is no longer destined to overtake it. After 40,000 years, Voyager 2 will pass at a distance of 1.7 light years from the star Ross 248, and in another 256,000 years it will come within 4.3 light years of Sirius.
The Voyager mission was much more ambitious than the Pioneers. It is not surprising that this time scientists prepared a message in advance for possible aliens.
On board each of the Voyagers was placed an aluminum case inside which is a 30 cm gold-plated copper plate. Together with the record, a phonographic capsule and a needle for recording playback are packed in the case, and on the case itself there is an engraved diagram showing the installation of the needle on the recording surface, the playback speed and the method of converting video signals into an image. In addition, as in the case of the Pioneers, the galactic coordinates of the Sun were indicated on the surface of the case. The disc itself contains music, sounds of the Earth, greetings in 50 languages, and 116 images are encoded. Since the defenders of morality were not asleep this time, there were no photographs of naked people in these pictures either.
On the left is the case itself, on the right is the disc with "Sounds of the Earth" in it. There is an assumption that over the course of millions of years, cosmic dust will damage it so much that it will be impossible to read information from it. But it's better than doing nothing at all. 
And here are NASA instructions on how to decipher the image on the case
New Horizons
And finally, the probe New Horizons, launched in 2006 to study Pluto. Since its mission is still ongoing and course corrections are possible, the exact trajectory along which the device will leave the solar system and its final speed are still unknown. It is only clear that the speed of New Horizons will be higher than that of the Pioneers, and less than that of the Voyagers - which means that it will take an honorable third place in the list of the most distant man-made objects from the Earth.
For some reason, this time NASA decided not to leave any messages addressed to extraterrestrial civilizations. But a few souvenirs nevertheless got on board the device - two American flags, two coins, two CDs on which the names of 434,738 people who participated in the "Send Your Name to Pluto" campaign are recorded, a postage stamp, a piece of the first private SpaceShipOne spacecraft and capsule with a particle of the ashes of the discoverer of Pluto Clyde Tombaugh. If in the future some intelligent individuals intercept the device, then they will probably puzzle over the purpose of these items for a long time.
Schematic representation of the trajectories of all five vehicles leaving the solar system
I would like to note one more curious fact - so far, the capabilities of terrestrial technology do not allow reaching the 3rd space velocity when starting from the Earth. Each of these five devices gained the missing speed due to the gravitational maneuver near Jupiter, which can give an increase in speed up to 40 km / s.
Other objects leaving the solar system
Concluding this mini-review, it should be mentioned that in addition to this "five", there is another group of objects that are destined to leave the solar system forever. We are talking about the last stages of carrier rockets that launched all these vehicles into space. Since they moved along approximately the same trajectories as the ships themselves, it is assumed that, having passed near Jupiter, these steps accelerated enough to be enough to reach the 3rd cosmic velocity. The only exception is the last stage of the rocket that sent Pioneer 11 into space, which, according to the calculations, should have simply entered a heliocentric orbit.
Involuntarily, one may wonder - if there are other intelligent species in our galaxy that are destined to find the artifacts left by mankind, then which of all this will be found with a greater degree of probability? And on the other hand, if we ourselves find artifacts of extraterrestrial origin, then what will they be - some kind of complex and advanced technique containing indications of who created it, or just space debris? And do potential aliens have analogues of our guardians of morality, who decide for other intelligent species what can be considered obscenities and what should not be sent into space?
| As the Ames Research Center reported in its regular bulletin, in December 2002 and January 2003, regular communication sessions with the device took place. Unfortunately, no telemetric information could be obtained from the board, but the very fact of receiving a response signal indicates that the probe is "still alive." On December 4, 2002, a signal was sent to the probe from Deep Space Station DSS-14 in Goldstone, pc. California, and the next day the return signal was recorded by the deep space communication station DSS-63 near Madrid, Spain. It took 22 hours and 24 minutes for the radio signal to travel from Earth to the probe and back. A similar operation was carried out 1.5 months later. On January 22, 2003, a signal was sent to the station, and the answer came the next day after 22 hours and 35 minutes. According to the mission control team, Pioneer 10 is currently at a distance of 82.19 astronomical units from the Sun and is moving at a speed of 12.2 km / s relative to our star. The probe is separated from the Earth by 12.2 billion kilometers. It takes 22 hours and 38 minutes for the radio signal to travel back and forth. You can watch the video recording of the Pioneer-10 launch. |
Engineers are preparing Pioneer-10 for launch | Launched on March 2, 1972, Pioneer 10 became the first artificial probe to explore Jupiter. He reached his goal only in December 1973. His main task was to study the conditions in the vicinity of Jupiter and take photographs. Radio emission from Jupiter (completely accidentally discovered in 1955 by BF Burke and W. Franklin, USA) indicated the existence of a very strong magnetic field. It was believed that Jupiter should have zones of increased intensity of cosmic radiation, similar to the radiation belts of the Earth. Scientists feared the effects of Jupiter's radiation on the spacecraft's instruments, especially since Pioneer 10 was supposed to fly over Jupiter's equatorial regions, where the radiation intensity would have been greatest. In fact, the Pioneer-10 equipment worked perfectly. He passed at a distance of less than 132,000 km from Jupiter and transmitted data on the magnetic field, which turned out to be powerful, but different in structure than the earth's, as well as on radiation zones. The instruments of the spacecraft almost went off scale. If Pioneer 10 had come any closer, the radiation would have completely disabled them. After meeting Jupiter, Pioneer 10 began its endless journey through space. |
After 5 years, he left the solar system, and even when the scientific research program was completed (it happened on March 31, 1997), he still continued to transmit data on interplanetary radiation and the magnitude of the magnetic field. NASA made the decision not to shut down the probe's automatic system, given the fact that its radioisotope power source was still generating power.
In April 1973, Pioneer 11 was launched, which reached the vicinity of Jupiter in December 1974. This time the approach to the planet was from its pole; the spacecraft passed relatively quickly through the equatorial regions, successfully avoiding the dangerous effects of radiation. The obtained data confirmed the results of "Pioneer-10". Then, after passing by Jupiter, Pioneer 11 entered another orbit to meet Saturn in 1979.
"Pioneer-10" - flight in interplanetary space.
The way Pioneer 10 moves in space is of great interest to scientists, since the observed slowdown of Pioneer by the gravitational pull of the solar system alone, as it turned out, cannot be explained. This means that this circumstance can either serve as evidence of the existence of a force unknown to science so far, or be associated with some properties of the spacecraft itself. Unfortunately, communication with the replica of this probe, Pioneer 11, was interrupted in 1995.
Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt and explore the outer solar system, the first spacecraft to rendezvous with Jupiter and the first to use the planet's gravity to change its trajectory and achieve 3rd space velocity (The third cosmic velocity is the speed necessary for the spacecraft to be able to leave the solar system and go to the Galaxy. At this speed, the spacecraft leaves the sphere of attraction of the Sun and leaves the solar system. The third cosmic velocity (near the surface of the Earth) ~ 16.67 km / s Note "AiT").
Approximate location in space of spacecraft
Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 on February 26, 2003
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The Pioneer 10 mission is drawing to a close. Exploring now remote regions of the heliosphere, he will soon exhaust the reserves of electricity needed to power scientific instruments. But even after that, the spacecraft, weighing 570 pounds (230 kilograms), will continue to move and in 30 thousand years will pass about 3 light years from the star Ross 248 - a faint red dwarf in the constellation Taurus, located at a distance of just over 10 light years from us. To date, this second-most remote object of all man-made continues to be in interstellar outer space, moving towards the star Aldebaran (the constellation of Taurus). In 1998, Voyager 1, launched five years later than Pioneer 10 but moving faster, became the most distant human spacecraft.
On board the Pioneer-10 there is a 15x23 cm plate made of aluminum anodized with gold, with an engraved pictogram. It is mounted on poles that support the spacecraft's antenna so as to protect its surface from erosion caused by interstellar dust. As conceived by the developers, with its help, the alleged inhabitants of other star systems, which may be separated from us by millions of years, will be able to find out when, from where and by whom this device was launched.
A plate with a pictogram on board the Pioneer-10.
At the top, two hydrogen atoms with opposite electron spins are shown schematically. The radiation wavelength of atomic hydrogen and its frequency are the basic units for all data in the diagram. All numerical data is written in binary form ("|" - one, "-" - zero). A bunch of diverging radial lines shows 14 pulsars, by the location of which one can understand that the homeland of the apparatus is the solar system. The horizontal and vertical strokes at the ends of the rays correspond to the binary records of the distances from the Sun to each pulsar and the period of its emission. Since the period of emission of pulsars decreases at a constant rate, it is possible to determine the moment when Pioneer was launched. A long horizontal beam passing through the figures of people shows the distance from the Sun to the center of our Galaxy. At the bottom of the plate are the Sun itself (a large circle) and 9 planets (the dashed entries below and above them correspond to the binary notation of the distances to the Sun), as well as the trajectory of the apparatus moving away from the Earth, passing Mars and enveloping Jupiter. The horizontal strokes above and below to the right of the female figure show her height (168 cm) and correspond to the wavelength of hydrogen (21 cm) multiplied by 8, the binary notation of which (one horizontal and three vertical strokes) is located to the right of the center of the female figure. Next to the male figure, Pioneer itself is schematically shown (the base unit in the form of a rectangle and the antenna in the form of a segment of a circle). This makes it possible to imagine the physical dimensions and appearance of the creatures that created the Pioneer. The man's hand is raised up, meaning both a greeting and goodwill. The Pioneer-11 probe carries a similar plate on its board.
Interestingly, the two interplanetary space stations "Voyager", which, having completed the study of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, continue their irreversible flight, carry on board two identical "parcels" for aliens. Each "package" is a small container, inside of which there is a gilded gramophone record made of a specially created alloy and a diamond needle for reading information. On the disc - greetings of earthlings in 55 languages, classical and modern music, sounds of nature, the noise of a train and the screech of car brakes. The "package" contains more than a hundred images that reflect the structure of DNA and human anatomy, the appearance of our animals and plants, the face of the Earth and its place in the Galaxy. The warranty period of such a player is millions of years!
