Pioneer 11 (also known as Pioneer G) is a NASA robotic space probe launched on April 5, 1973, to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, the solar wind, and cosmic rays. It was the first probe to encounter Saturn, the second to fly through the asteroid belt, and the second to fly by Jupiter. Later, Pioneer 11 became the second of five artificial objects to achieve an escape velocity allowing it to leave the Solar System. Due to power constraints and the vast distance to the probe, the last routine contact with the spacecraft was on September 30, 1995, and the last good engineering data was received on November 24, 1995. The Pioneer 11 bus measures 36 centimetres (14 in) deep and with six 76-centimetre-long (30 in) panels forming the hexagonal structure. The bus houses propellant to control the orientation of the probe and eight of the twelve scientific instruments. The spacecraft has a mass of 259 kilograms. The Pioneer 11 probe was launched on April 6, 1973, at 02:11:00 UTC, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from Space Launch Complex 36A at Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard an Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle, with a Star-37E propulsion module. Its twin probe, Pioneer 10, had been launched on March 3, 1972. Pioneer 11 was launched on a trajectory directly aimed at Jupiter without any prior gravitational assists. In May 1974, Pioneer was retargeted to fly past Jupiter on a north–south trajectory, enabling a Saturn flyby in 1979. The manoeuvre used 17 lb (7.7 kg) of propellant, lasted 42 minutes and 36 seconds, and increased Pioneer 11’s speed by 230 km/h. It also made two mid-course corrections, on April 11, 1973, and November 7, 1974. We celebrate this pioneer of discovery with an AI image of it passing the moon …
Selective coloration – the new way to view photos…
If you like this photo, it is available for purchase at PictRS. Simply click or copy the link below:
https://www.pictrs.com/selldonsselectivecoloration/5571482
I am a member of tree nation and have my own forest. For every photo purchased, I will donate a new tree to tree nation, so in that way we can help to reforest our own beautiful planet (https://tree-nation.com/de/profil/jason-hann ).
April 6
If you are interested what else happened on this day, please click on the calendar or press the button below:
.
.
.
.
.
.
#Pioneer11 #NASA #SpaceProbe #AsteroidBelt #Jupiter #Saturn #SolarSystem #CosmicRays #SpaceExploration #Astronomy #SpaceHistory #RoboticSpacecraft #PioneerMission #Interstellar #SpaceTechnology #NASAHistory #Astrophysics #SpaceArt #AIArt #SpaceDiscovery #selldonphotography #selldon #selectivecoloration #fyp #foryou #foryoupage