NASA pioneer missions
post 1900s
Missions
Name Origin
Technology
The technologies and scientific instruments used on the space crafts were almost the same for Pioneer 10 and 11, except for a Flux-Gate Magnometer added to Pioneer 11.
Instruments are :
Plasma Analyzer
Charged Particle Instrument
Cosmic Ray Telescope
Geiger Tube Telescope
Trapped Radiation Detector
Meteoroid Detector (ENC)(F)
Asteroid-Meteoroid Experiment (ENC)(F)
Ultraviolet Photometer
Imaging Photopolarimeter (ENC)
Infrared Radiometer (F)
Discoveries of the Pioneer Missions
Pioneer 10 which was launched in 1972, made the first close-up images of the planet Jupiter.
It also charted Jupiters intense radiation belts and located the magnetic field of the planet. Pioneer 10 also made the discovery that Jupiter was a mainly liquid planet.
The outer regions of the Solar System were also explored, and the energetic particles from the Sun, and cosmic rays entering our portion of the Milky Way were also studied.
Pioneer 11 was launched in 1973. During it's flyby past Jupiter, Pioneer 11 made a few more observations and obtained dramatic images of the Great Red Spot. The immense polar regions were discovered, and the mass of Jupiter's moon Callisto were studied.
In 1979, Pioneer 11 flew within 13 000 miles of Saturn and took the first close up images of the planet.
Two small moons and an additional ring were also found, none of which had been previously seen; and the magnetosphere and magnetic field if Saturn were also charted. It was also found that Saturn's planet sized moon Titan, was far too cold for life.
Our Knowledge and Understanding
We have been provided with visual and scientific insight into outer space, and the Missions have opened a gateway for future scientists and future technologies to be used to gain even more information on already discovered and not yet discovered planets and Solar Systems.