Farewell Pioneer 10

Truely an amazing feat of engineering.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/02/030226073614.htm

when i first seen your thread i thought u were talking about audio stuff lol:D

"Originally designed for a 21-month mission, Pioneer 10 lasted more than 30 years. It was a workhorse that far exceeded its warranty, and I guess you could say we got our money's worth," said Pioneer 10 Project Manager, Dr. Larry Lasher.

I was surprised that it remained useful all these years. An excellent piece of technology for its time. :)

yea next time they can send something with a bigger power source or solar panels and more stuff like a camera.

Funny how bittersweet the engineering of this spacecraft is... It's lasted so long, and travelled so far, but then we reflect upon Challenger. :o

Saturninity confined, that's absolutely amazing for a craft to last that long in so many different conditions with such usefulness through time!!!!

I like the typo in the headline. :rolleyes: Pioneer 10 Spacecraft Sents Last Signal To Earth

"Originally designed for a 21-month mission, Pioneer 10 lasted more than 30 years. It was a workhorse that far exceeded its warranty, and I guess you could say we got our money's worth," said Pioneer 10 Project Manager, Dr. Larry Lasher.

Pioneer Ten was travelling at 45,000 Kilometers per Hour.

There are 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year (not counting leap days...to much work). that's 8760 hours in a year. That's 262,800 Hours in 30 years.

That equals out to about 11,826,000,000 kilometers.

Why can't we build this kind of reliability into my Stealth's Engine???