Pioneer 10
The first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt and visit Jupiter — now a silent pioneer drifting toward the stars.
Vital statistics
01
Overview
Pioneer 10 was a craft of firsts: the first to traverse the asteroid belt and the first to fly past Jupiter, which it did in December 1973, returning the first close-up images of the giant planet and measuring its lethal radiation belts. Built by NASA's Ames Research Center, it carries the famous gold-anodized plaque — designed by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake — depicting a man, a woman, and our location in the galaxy, in case it is ever found. Its signal faded with distance until the last contact in 2003.
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Exploration
Pioneer 10 proved the asteroid belt was safely navigable and pioneered the RTG power and gravity-assist techniques later missions relied on. After Jupiter it became the first craft on a Solar-System-escape trajectory. NASA tracked its weakening signal for decades; the final faint telemetry arrived in 2003 from about 80 AU. It now coasts silently toward the red giant Aldebaran, which it will pass in roughly two million years.
Did you know?
It was the first spacecraft to fly beyond Mars and through the asteroid belt.
Its gold plaque is a message to any future finders, showing humans and a map to Earth.
Jupiter's gravity flung it onto the first Solar-System-escape trajectory in history.
Its last signal in 2003 came from ~12 billion km away — and took 11 hours to reach Earth.
It is headed toward the bright star Aldebaran, a journey of about 2 million years.
It briefly held the title of most distant human-made object, until Voyager 1 passed it in 1998.
Timeline
- 19721972
Launched March 2/3 on an Atlas-Centaur toward Jupiter.
- 19731973
First-ever Jupiter flyby on Dec 3 returns close images and radiation data.
- 19831983
Crosses Neptune's orbit — the most distant human-made object at the time.
- 20032003
Final faint signal received Jan 23 — the mission ends.