. 24/7 Space News .
Pioneer 10 Performs Maneuver 10 Hours Out
 Washington - February 24, 2000 - Pioneer 10 has successfully been commanded to perform a precession maneuver to repoint the spacecraft towards Earth. The operation was accomplished on February 11-12 with the signal level increasing 0.5-0.75 dBM as result of the maneuver.

This was the seventh successful maneuver that has been done in the dark since 26 January 1997. It was determined at that time that the RTG power had been degraded to the point where the spacecraft transmitter had to be turned off to attain enough power to perform the procedure.

After 90 minutes in the blind the transmitter was turned back on again. The round trip light time during this latest maneuver was 20 hours 34 minutes.

Pioneer 10 will continue to be tracked via the DSN. With science data received to support advanced concept studies of chaos theory.

In addition, Pioneer 10 mission management will be used by NASA to help develop advanced communications technology for future generations of missions going beyond the heliopause and on into the interstellar medium.

Distance from Sun (1 February 2000): 74.46 AU Speed relative to the Sun: 12.24 km/sec (27,380 mph) Distance from Earth: 11.07 billion kilometers (6.879 billion miles) Round-trip Light Time: 20 hours 30 minutes

Pioneer Links

  • Pioneer Status Reports
  • Geiger Tube Telescope
  • Plasma Analyzer Instrument
  • Pioneer Home Page
  • Space Science - SpaceDaily Special Report

    DEEP SPACE ONE
     Salvaging Deep Space One
     by Bruce Moomaw
     Cameron Park - February 7, 2000 - After the failure of Deep Space 1's star tracker, it looked as though the spacecraft's career in deep space might be over -- but JPL was not willing to give up so easily.




    Thanks for being here;
     We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

    With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

    Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

    If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
    SpaceDaily Contributor
    $5 Billed Once

    credit card or paypal
         		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
    $5 Billed Monthly

    paypal only














    • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.