Pioneer 10
Pioneer 10 is a NASA space probe, designed to fly past Planet Jupiter, and then to explore the outer Solar system.[1] It was launched on March 2, 1972, flew past Jupiter on December 4, 1973, and some of its instruments continued to transmit useful data March 31, 1997. An attempt to contact the probe, in January 2003, was partially successful, but showed its power was insufficient to transmit more data.
Pioneer 10 was the first space probe to go beyond the orbit of Planet Mars.[1] It not only used its 11 instruments while flying past Jupiter, but took photos of three of Jupiter's moons, Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa.
Like her sister probe, Pioneer 11, Pioneer 10 contains plaque designed to communicate basic data on Planet Earth, in the unlikely event it is ever found by an alien race.[2] The plaque is made of Gold, as the metal least likely to deggrade, over time. It is engraved with a stylized pictures of an adult man and woman, and of signals of pulsar, which are meant to show the location of the Solar system.
References
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"What was Pioneer 10?". NASA. 2017-12-22. Archived from the original on 2026-06-15. Retrieved 2026-06-22.
Pioneer 10 was NASA's first mission to the outer planets. The mission was a spectacular success and the spacecraft notched a series of firsts unmatched by any other robotic spacecraft to date.
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"What was Pioneer 11?". NASA. 2017-12-22. Archived from the original on 2026-05-19. Retrieved 2026-06-22.
NASA's Pioneer 11, a sister spacecraft to Pioneer 10, was the first spacecraft to study Saturn up close. The mission ended in 1995 and Pioneer 11 is on a trajectory to take it out of the solar system.