 An artist's impression of Pioneer 11 on its way to interstellar space. | |
| Mission type | Planetary / Heliosphere exploration |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA / Ames |
| COSPAR ID | 1973-019A |
| SATCAT no. | 6421 |
| Website | science.nasa.gov |
| Mission duration | 22 years, 7 months and 19 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | TRW |
| Launch mass | 258.5 kg[1] |
| Power | 155 watts (at launch) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | April 6, 1973, 02:11:00 UTC[1] |
| Rocket | Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1A Star-37E |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-36B |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Decommissioned |
| Last contact | November 24, 1995 |
| Flyby of Jupiter | |
| Closest approach | December 3, 1974 |
| Distance | 43,000 kilometers (27,000 miles) |
| Flyby of Saturn | |
| Closest approach | September 1, 1979 |
| Distance | 21,000 kilometers (13,000 miles) |
| |
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.[2] 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.[3]