Pioneer 10

Pioneer 10

Artist's conception of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft
Mission type	Outer Solar System and heliosphere exploration
Operator	NASA / ARC
COSPAR ID	1972-012A
SATCAT no.	5860
Website	Pioneer Project website (archived) NASA Archive page
Mission duration	30 years, 10 months, 22 days
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	TRW
Launch mass	258.8 kilograms (571 lb)
Power	155 watts (at launch)
Start of mission
Launch date	March 2, 1972 (1972-03-02) (45 years and 9 days ago)
Rocket	Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D Star-37E
Launch site	Cape Canaveral LC-36A
End of mission
Last contact	January 23, 2003 (2003-01-23) (14 years, 1 month and 17 days ago)
Flyby of Jupiter
Closest approach	December 3, 1973 (1973-12-03) (43 years, 3 months and 9 days ago)
Distance	132,252 km (82,178 mi)
Instruments HMV Helium Vector Magnetometer - Quadrispherical Plasma Analyzer CPI Charged Particle Instrument CRT Cosmic Ray Telescope GTT Geiger Tube Telescope TRD Trapped Radiation Detector - Meteoroid Detectors AMD Asteroid/Meteoroid Detector - Ultraviolet Photometer IPP Imaging Photopolarimeter - Infrared Radiometer

Pioneer 10 (originally designated Pioneer F) is an American space probe, launched in 1972 and weighing 258 kilograms (569 pounds), that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. Thereafter, Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System. This space exploration project was conducted by the NASA Ames Research Center in California, and the space probe was manufactured by TRW Inc.

Pioneer 10 was assembled around a hexagonal bus with a 2.74 meters (9 ft 0 in) diameter parabolic dish high-gain antenna, and the spacecraft was spin stabilized around the axis of the antenna. Its electric power was supplied by four radioisotope thermoelectric generators that provided a combined 155 watts at launch.

It was launched on March 2, 1972, by an Atlas-Centaur expendable vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Between July 15, 1972, and February 15, 1973, it became the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt. Photography of Jupiter began November 6, 1973, at a range of 25,000,000 kilometers (16,000,000 mi), and a total of about 500 images were transmitted. The closest approach to the planet was on December 4, 1973, at a range of 132,252 kilometers (82,178 mi). 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.