The US Pioneer program of unmanned space missions was designed for planetary exploration. There were a number of such missions in the program, but the most notable were Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, which explored the outer planets and left the solar system. Both carry a golden plaque (see Pioneer plaque), depicting a man and a woman and information about the origin and the creators of the probes, should any extraterrestrials find them someday. Motto: Official (Latin): E pluribus unum (1789 to 1956) (Translated: Out of Many, One) In God We Trust (1956 to present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at federal level; English de facto Government  â€¢ President  â€¢ Vice President Federal... Unmanned space missions are those using remote-controlled spacecraft. ... Pioneer 10 in the final stage of construction Launch of Pioneer 10 Pioneer 10 (also called Pioneer F) was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt, and was the first spacecraft to make direct observations of Jupiter. ... Pioneer 11 at Saturn (artists impression) Pioneer 11 was the second mission to investigate Jupiter and the outer solar system and the first to explore the planet Saturn and its main rings. ... Presentation of the solar system (not to scale) The solar system comprises the Earths Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally bound to it. ... On board the unmanned spacecraft Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 is a plaque with a pictorial message from mankind. ... The existence of extraterrestrial life remains hypothetical though human beings continue to search Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth. ...

Early Pioneer missions

Pioneer 2, typical of the earliest in the Pioneer series, from 1958.

The earliest missions were attempts achieve Earth escape velocity, simply to show it was feasible and study the Moon. This included the first launch by NASA which was formed from the old NACA. These missions were carried out by the US Air Force and Army. Image File history File links Pioneer_able. ... Image File history File links Pioneer_able. ... NASA photo of the Pioneer 2 probe Pioneer 2 was the last of the three project Able space probes designed to probe lunar and cislunar space. ... In physics, for a given gravitational field and a given position, the escape velocity is the minimum speed an object without propulsion, at that position, needs to have to move away indefinitely from the source of the field, as opposed to falling back or staying in an orbit within a... Crust composition Oxygen 43% Silicon 21% Aluminium 10% Calcium 9% Iron 9% Magnesium 5% Titanium 2% Nickel 0. ... NASA logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... NACA official seal The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. ... The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerospace branch of the United States armed forces. ... The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces that has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ...

Mission list 1958-1960

Most missions here are listed with their most recognised name, and alternate names after in brackets.

• Able space probes
  • Pioneer 0 (Thor-Able 1, Pioneer) - Lunar orbiter, destroyed in launcher failure August 1958
  • Pioneer 1 (Thor-Able 2, Pioneer I) - Lunar orbiter, missed Moon due to launcher failure October 1958
  • Pioneer 2 (Thor-Able 3, Pioneer II) - Lunar orbiter, destroyed in launcher failure November 1958
  • Pioneer 3 - Lunar flyby, missed Moon due to launcher failure December 1958
  • Pioneer 4 - Lunar flyby, achieved Earth escape velocity, launched March 1959
  • Pioneer P-1 (Atlas-Able 4A, Pioneer W), probe lost September 1959
  • Pioneer P-3 (Atlas-Able 4, Atlas-Able 4B, Pioneer X) - Lunar probe, lost in launcher failure December 1959
  • Pioneer 5 (Pioneer P-2, Atlas-Able 6, Pioneer V) - interplanetary space between Earth and Venus, launched March 1960
  • Pioneer P-30 (Atlas-Able 5A, Pioneer Y) - Lunar probe, failed to achieve lunar obit September 1960
  • Pioneer P-31 (Atlas-Able 5B, Pioneer Z) - Lunar probe, lost in upper stage failure December 1960

The first three Able series of space probes were also called Thor-Able because they were launched on Thor booster rockets. ... The Pioneer 0 (also known as Thor-Able 1) probe was designed to go into orbit around the Moon and carried a TV camera and other instruments as part of the first International Geophysical Year (IGY) science payload. ... Crust composition Oxygen 43% Silicon 21% Aluminium 10% Calcium 9% Iron 9% Magnesium 5% Titanium 2% Nickel 0. ... Pioneer 1 atop its launcher Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of three project Able space probes and the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA, was intended to study the ionizing radiation, cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and micrometeorites in the vicinity of the Earth and in lunar... NASA photo of the Pioneer 2 probe Pioneer 2 was the last of the three project Able space probes designed to probe lunar and cislunar space. ... Pioneer III Pioneer 3 was a spin stabilized spacecraft launched by the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile agency in conjunction with NASA. The spacecraft was intended as a lunar probe, but failed to go past the Moon and into a heliocentric orbit as planned, but did reach an altitude of... Pioneer III Pioneer 4 was a spin stabilized spacecraft launched as part of the Pioneer program on a lunar flyby trajectory and into a heliocentric orbit making it the first US probe to escape from the Earths gravity. ... In physics, for a given gravitational field and a given position, the escape velocity is the minimum speed an object without propulsion, at that position, needs to have to move away indefinitely from the source of the field, as opposed to falling back or staying in an orbit within a... Pioneer P-1 was a failed mission in the Pioneer series. ... Pioneer P-3 (also known as Atlas-Able 4 or Pioneer X) was intended to be a lunar orbiter probe, but the mission failed shortly after launch. ... Pioneer 5 Pioneer 5 (1960 Alpha 1) was a spin-stabilized space probe in the Pioneer program used to investigate interplanetary space between the orbits of Earth and Venus. ... (*min temperature refers to cloud tops only) Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 9. ... Pioneer P-30 (also known as Atlas-Able 5A, or Pioneer Y) was intended to be a lunar orbiter probe, but the mission failed shortly after launch. ... Pioneer P-31 (also known as Atlas-Able 5B or Pioneer Z) was intended to be a lunar orbiter probe, but the mission failed shortly after launch. ...

Later Pioneer missions

Pioneer 10, undergoing construction in 1971. Pioneer 10 and 11 are the most famous probes in the Pioneer program, the first probes to visit the outer planets, and the first to go beyond the orbit of Neptune.

Pioneer image of Jupiter.

Five years after the early Able space probe missions ended, NASA Ames Research Center used the Pioneer name for a new series of missions, initially aimed at the inner solar system, before the bold flyby missions to Jupiter and Saturn. While successful, the missions returned much poorer images than the Voyagers five years later. In 1978, the end of the program saw a return to the inner solar system, with the Pioneer Venus Orbiter and Multiprobe, this time using orbital insertion rather than flyby missions. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (488x626, 290 KB) Pioneer 10 Construction Date: 12. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (488x626, 290 KB) Pioneer 10 Construction Date: 12. ... Pioneer 10 in the final stage of construction Launch of Pioneer 10 Pioneer 10 (also called Pioneer F) was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt, and was the first spacecraft to make direct observations of Jupiter. ... Pioneer 11 at Saturn (artists impression) Pioneer 11 was the second mission to investigate Jupiter and the outer solar system and the first to explore the planet Saturn and its main rings. ... Presentation of the solar system (not to scale) The solar system comprises the Earths Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally bound to it. ... Adjective Neptunian Atmospheric characteristics Surface pressure ≫100 MPa Hydrogen - H2 80% ±3. ... Image File history File links Pioneer_f15. ... Image File history File links Pioneer_f15. ... Adjective Jovian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Aerial View of Moffett Field and NASA Ames Research Center. ... Adjective Jovian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Adjective Saturnian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ... The Voyager spacecraft Launch of Voyager 2 Voyager is also the name of a planned series of unmanned probes to Mars, cancelled in 1968. ... The Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two components, launched separately: an Orbiter and a Multiprobe. ... The Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two components, launched separately: an Orbiter and a Multiprobe. ...

The new missions were numbered from Pioneer 6.

Mission list 1965-1978

Alternate names in brackets.

• Pioneer 6, 7, 8 and 9 - interplanetary space "weather network"
  • Pioneer 6 (Pioneer A) - launched December 1965
  • Pioneer 7 (Pioneer B) - launched August 1966
  • Pioneer 8 (Pioneer C) - launched December 1967
  • Pioneer 9 (Pioneer D) - launched November 1968
  • Pioneer E - lost in launcher failure August 1969
• Outer solar system missions
  • Pioneer 10 (Pioneer F) - Jupiter, interstellar space, launched March 1972
  • Pioneer 11 (Pioneer G) - Jupiter, Saturn, interstellar space, launched April 1973
  • Pioneer H - identical to Pioneers 10 and 11, but never launched
• Pioneer Venus project
  • Pioneer Venus Orbiter (Pioneer Venus 1, Pioneer 12) - the of the Pioneer Venus project, launched December 1978
  • Pioneer Venus Multiprobe (Pioneer Venus 2, Pioneer 13) - the of the Pioneer Venus project, launched August 1978
    • Pioneer Venus Probe Bus - transport vehicle and upper atmosphere probe
    • Pioneer Venus Large Probe - 300 kg parachuted probe
    • Pioneer Venus North Probe - 75 kg parachuted probe
    • Pioneer Venus Night Probe - 75 kg parachuted probe
    • Pioneer Venus Day Probe - 75 kg parachuted probe

Pioneer 6, 7, 8 and 9 were all part of the Pioneer program, and together formed a series of solar-orbiting, spin-stabilized, solar-cell and battery-powered satellites designed to obtain measurements on a continuing basis of interplanetary phenomena from widely separated points in space. ... Pioneer 10 in the final stage of construction Launch of Pioneer 10 Pioneer 10 (also called Pioneer F) was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt, and was the first spacecraft to make direct observations of Jupiter. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Interstellar Space was one of the last albums recorded before the death of John Coltrane in 1967. ... Pioneer 11 at Saturn (artists impression) Pioneer 11 was the second mission to investigate Jupiter and the outer solar system and the first to explore the planet Saturn and its main rings. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ... Interstellar Space was one of the last albums recorded before the death of John Coltrane in 1967. ... Pioneer H is an unlaunched unmanned space mission that was part of the US Pioneer program. ... The Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two components, launched separately. ... The Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two components, launched separately. ... The Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two components, launched separately. ...

See also

• Timeline of Planetary Exploration
• Able space probes

Timeline of planetary exploration by date of launch. ... The first three Able series of space probes were also called Thor-Able because they were launched on Thor booster rockets. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Pioneer missions

• Pioneer Program home page
• Mark Wolverton's The Depths of Space online

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

 

Pioneer
Previous mission: None, see contemporaneous program Mariner	Next mission: Voyager
Pioneer 0 | Pioneer 1 | Pioneer 2 | Pioneer 3 | Pioneer 4 | Pioneer P-1 (W) | Pioneer P-3 (X) | Pioneer P-30 (Y) | Pioneer P-31 (Z)
Pioneer 5 (P-2) | Pioneer 6, 7, 8 and 9 | Pioneer 10 | Pioneer 11 | Pioneer H | Pioneer Venus project