13 June: Pioneer 10

On this date in 1983 the robot spacecraft Pioneer-10 became the first man-made object to leave the Solar System (Assuming that is, that the solar system ends at Neptune’s orbit). 10 things you didn’t know about Pioneer 10.

1. It was launched in March 1972 with the aim of studying Jupiter, Saturn and the far reaches of the solar system.
2. After it was launched by a three stage Atlas Centaur rocket, it reached an escape velocity of 32,110 miles per hour (51,682 kilometers per hour), breaking the speed record for any man-made object up to that point.
3. It measures 36 centimeters (14 in) deep and with six 76-centimeter (30 in) long panels forming a hexagonal structure. It weighs 258 kilograms (569 pounds).
4. 4.2 ounces (120 g) of that mass is accounted for by the Pioneer Plaque, which is made from gold-anodized aluminium and etched with a message for any alien life it may encounter. The plaque depicts a nude man and woman standing in front of a silhouette of Pioneer 10 (so the aliens will know how tall we are) and diagrams showing the location of Earth and our solar system. Carl Sagan promoted the idea to NASA after he was approached by Eric Burgess, an English journalist who’d visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The plaque was designed by Sagan and Frank Drake; the drawings were by Linda Salzman Sagan, Sagan’s wife at the time. She based them on Greek sculptures and Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings.
5. Needless to say not everyone agreed about the message we’re sending. Which race are the figures supposed to represent, for a start? People from different races thought the figures resembled their race, but whichever it was, there’s only one race on there so that’s racist. The fact they are naked was another criticism, but justified in that how would you dress them in order to represent all of mankind? Even so there were people who were outraged that we were sending the aliens dirty pictures of naked people. Another criticism was the use of an arrow to show the trajectory of the spacecraft. It was argued that an arrow symbol was a product of a hunter-gatherer society that used bows and arrows so the aliens wouldn’t know what an arrow means.
6. It was the first spacecraft to fly beyond Mars, to fly through the Asteroid belt, and to fly beyond Jupiter.
7. The scientific instruments the probe carries include devices for measuring magnetic fields and to detect and analyse cosmic ray particles.
8. It was also the first spacecraft to use all nuclear electric power.
9. There has been no communication with the probe since 2003.
10. Where is it now? Somewhere in the direction of the constellation of Taurus. It will reach Aldebaran, 68 light years away, in about 2 million years.

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