Science – “Major 10” already 40 years of the solar system – knowledge

WASHINGTON (AP) — The US space probe Pioneer 10, which was the first spacecraft to fly outside the known boundaries of our solar system on Tuesday (June 13) exactly 40 years ago, may now be there, according to NASA calculations. 20 billion km from the sun.

The probe was launched on March 3, 1972 from the Cape Canaveral cosmodrome in the US state of Florida and in the years that followed, bypassed, among other things, the asteroid belt, Jupiter and Saturn. On June 13, 1983, Pioneer 10 flew past Neptune’s orbit, becoming the first man-made spacecraft to fly past the most distant known planet in our solar system, according to NASA. Neptune is located on average about 4.5 billion km from the sun.

This was followed by similar missions with Pioneer 11 and the two Voyager probes. Voyager 1 eventually overtook Pioneer 10 as the farthest man-made object from Earth. The last time Pioneer 10 sent data was in January 2003, and an attempt to contact them in March 2006 failed. Originally, the mission was only intended to last 21 months.

Should Pioneer 10 encounter “intelligent life” on its journey, according to NASA, an aluminum plate is attached to the probe. On it are, among other things, illustrations of a man, a woman and our solar system.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 230611-99-13275/5