Pioneer spacecraft hardware - TRW Options

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Just dug up a small booklet with nice logo of TRW 1979...
TRW : Thompson – Ramo – Wooldridge
American corporation established in 1958 by the merger of Thompson products with Ramo-Wooldridge Corp, renamed TRW Inc in 1965. TRW developed missile systems and the Pioneer 10 and 11 deep space probes. By 2002, Northrop Grumman acquired TRW defense and Goodrich Corporation took over TRW Aerospace group. Nowadays TRW Automotive Holdings Corp is the world’s leader in automotive safety.

[elchristou]

About Pioneer, if someone knows about any doc (HR photo, drawing) of the trusters on both side of the dish, please let me know it... (got a new 3D model again for Celestia but cannot end it because of this detail)
Tx!

[nprev]

Phil, that is just a groovy graphic (in the purest early '70s sense)...almost looks like a Peter Max work. Thanks!!!

[infocat13]

I would love a pic of the TH 364-4 Star upper stage that is following the pioneer 10 to the stars.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

BTW I'm searching a High Resolution of an official TRW photo showing Pioneer 10 during check-out by 3 engineers wearing TRW jackets...

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Well here is a bad version of that TRW photo:

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

While at it, I'm also searching a high resolution of:

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

elchristou, take a look at:
http://ails.arc.nasa.gov/CumulusImages/Pre...0x%20512/22.jpg

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

December must be the month for Pioneer 10 & 11 memorabilia
http://www.cloudynights.com/photopost/show...&thecat=997

[tasp]

Am I correct in recalling the Pioneers are now too distant for contact, and might, as far as we know, still be functioning ??

[PDP8E]

The mission page will tell you when the Pioneers stopped transmitting

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/history/pioneer.html


cheers

[lyford]

Press Releases (Obits? ) Here

Pioneer 10

Pioneer 11

[edstrick]

As I recall, one of the early Interplanetary Pioneers, maybe #9, was still transmitting some 5 or 7 years ago when they did a "what-the-hell" look at it as part of a Pioneer 10/11 celebration of some sort. I don't know if they've looked since.

[4th rock from th...]

From Wikipedia:

Pioneer 6: December 8, 2000 Successful telemetry contact for about two hours.

Pioneer 7: March 31, 1995 Tracked successfully. The spacecraft and one of the science instruments were still functioning.

Pioneer 8: August 22, 1996 The spacecraft commanded to switch to the backup TWT. Downlink signal was re-acquired, one of the science instruments again functioning.

Pioneer 9: 1983 Spacecraft failed.


So only 9 is not functioning, the rest are still active!

[elchristou]

elchristou, take a look at:
http://ails.arc.nasa.gov/CumulusImages/Pre...0x%20512/22.jpg

I'm SO sorry to miss your kind response to my problem! Tx a lot for searching! Actually this last pict is just great to higher a bit more the details of my model but still the thrusters still a problem for me...

[Dominik]

Hello,

the only picture I've found about the thrusters of Pioneer, is located in this picture:

It's only some art picture but the thrusters may look like the original ones. Hope that helps a bit.

[elchristou]

Tx, but actually the thrusters are quite tiny and almost invisible at this scale... They are included in this block on each side but I have no close up shot to depict them correctly...

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Being the self-proclaimed UMSF photo-librarian I have to keep coming up with Pioneer 10 photos

[elchristou]

Being the self-proclaimed UMSF photo-librarian I have to keep coming up with Pioneer 10 photos

Nice, another unknown photo! Unfortunately this one is also too general...
To have a better idea of what could be better on my model, you can download the current stage Here (Pioneer link). The thrusters are not visible and some foil has been removed to let the instrument visible (this can change if necessary)... Be free to let me know what I can do to make it better!

[tasp]

{Grasping at straws here}

Would anyone know if 'accurate' source images were used in the model Pioneer spacecraft shown in one of those Star Trek movies ?

(Not 'V-ger', a Pioneer craft was shown being blasted by Romuloids or some such, and as I recall the craft was shown in close up in when it was blasted)

If your not embarrassed to use a print of a sci-fi movie for source info on Pioneer thrusters, might be worthwhile checking. IIRC, V-ger was portrayed minus some thermal blankets. If Hollywood used original pics of Pioneer for the movie model it might be something to check on. Especially if you already have the DVD on hand and can single frame thru the scene.

Sorry I don't recall exactly which movie it was and there are rather several of them . . .

[nprev]

Well, hoping to assist in this effort (and also help out poor Phil!) I found this:



Might not be much help (esp. because the spacecraft is still under construction here), but it's the most detail I've seen.

[elchristou]

Well, hoping to assist in this effort (and also help out poor Phil!) I found this...

Yep, actually this is also the better photo I've seen so far; it's where we can see part of the thrusters (holes in the black block) but my problem is those on other axis. I don't know exactly where they are...

[Dominik]

@tasp

The Movie was: Star Trek V - The final frontier

The Pioneer model used there, seems to be very accurate in my opinion. but the thrusters are not visible in that scene, because the spacecraft is shown from it's HGA side. The klingon ship then fires it's disruptors on the spacecraft and then it tumbles very fast -> No chance to see the thrusters in detail.

[Ken90000]

Would the Pioneer H spacecraft that hangs in the Milestones of Flight Gallery at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. have accurate thrusters for your use? I have a few shots of it somewhere around here. I am sure that one of us will find himself or herself in that museum and willing to take a few close-up digital images of the thrusters.

Just do not fall while leaning over the balcony trying to get the perfect shot.

[elchristou]

Would the Pioneer H spacecraft that hangs in the Milestones of Flight Gallery at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. have accurate thrusters for your use? I have a few shots of it somewhere around here. I am sure that one of us will find himself or herself in that museum and willing to take a few close-up digital images of the thrusters.

Just do not fall while leaning over the balcony trying to get the perfect shot.

That would be wonderful! One of the good fellow of the Celestia community have done the same last year when I was modeling Voyager. You probably know the result and I must say I'm quite happy with this model...

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

In fact, I'm working on an article to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Pioneer 10 - Jupiter flyby of December 1973. The article will be illustrated with seldom seen photographs, which I'm keeping off a bit for the moment, but I can share one "specially in preview" for UMSF:

the other Phill

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

I guess everybody noted in the photo above, how the Frank Drake/Carl Sagan Pioneer Plaque is attached to the frame with the drawing inwards in order to protect it from micro-meteorites. Here's one more photo, but I'll have to keep the rest for the UMSF photo of the month topic over at the "EVA & Misc" part of the UMSF forum:

[djellison]

This has been sent in by Infocat13

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pi...s_kickmotor.jpg

[ilbasso]

Here are links to the Pioneer on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Not a lot of detail, but maybe it helps.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture in book

[nprev]

Hopefully not OT, but just what the heck is that cutout in the parabolic dish for? My best guess is that it's there for the thruster to provide pitch control without eroding the dish or introducing an opposing torque?

[tasp]

IIRC, the large box next to the thruster looks sunward through the cut out in the dish. The dish was probably pretty close to the ID of the payload fairing, so the instrument could not extend out past the OD of the non-notched dish.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

35 years ago, my favorite spacecraft "" Pioneer 10 "" got Jupiter in sight.
Closest approach was on 5th December 1973 as the spacecraft passed 130000 kilometers over the cloud tops

painting by Dutch space artist Ed Hengeveld to celebrate the "" 35 years Jupiter passage ""

[infocat13]

35 years ago, my favorite spacecraft "" Pioneer 10 "" got Jupiter in sight.
Closest approach was on 5th December 1973 as the spacecraft passed 130000 kilometers over the cloud tops

painting by Dutch space artist Ed Hengeveld to celebrate the "" 35 years Jupiter passage ""

Well Phil I am hoping your up comming paper in the british interpalanetary society mag makes mention of my faverite topic, the fate of the star motor of the pioneer 10.I have reason to believe that the pioneer 11 injection aim point was not nominal( wrong side of the planet!) and the upper stage may not be in a solar system escape orbit.Jonathen mcdowell would be intersted in knowing if your research of this project has turned up anything in this reguard
cheers mate, and watch out for that speckeld hen and scrumpie stuff those brits drink!

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Didn't tackle the motor issue but I've found more rare Pioneer hardware photos and logos, which I will share with the UMSF community

Here's a nice Pioneer-Saturn logo:

[DDAVIS]

'It's only some art picture but the thrusters may look like the original ones'.

I painted this picture after I saw a story on the late night news program 'Nightline' indicating Pioneer 10 would obtain a last picture of the solar neighborhood as it crossed Neptunes orbit. I soon learned this was not the case and I resolved to create my own version of the view the spacecraft would have. I contacted Peter Waller, then head of NASA Ames Public Affairs, about this and he decided to commission a painting for the occassion.
I obtained spacecraft hardware images and made an original perspective drawing of the spacecraft, setting it apart from most other images of the spacecraft which are based on a single drawing from a distinct angle.
The navigation people then provided data on where the planets would appear in relation to the Sun, which appear as colored dots shown with exaggerated clarity. I painted this scene with attention thus paid to the details of the hardware as well as the background view. This is a cropped scan from a slide of the original acrylic painting. It is a monument to the days when artists inspired by ongoing space exploration were helped rather than hindered by official sources when they wanted to 'get it right'.

Don

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Excellent work Don... but that's focused on the spacecraft as Your painting is larger showing more of the Milky way.
Just curious, did this work get an official NASA photo number?

[DDAVIS]

Your painting is larger showing more of the Milky way.

Yes, a scan showing the entire art is on a page with some of my NASA paintings, at:
http://www.donaldedavis.com/BIGPUB/PIONEER.jpg


Just curious, did this work get an official NASA photo number?


A NASA Ames 8 X 10 paper print I have has this ID felt penned on the back:

AC83-0351-1

I have a copy somewhere with an official caption page taped to the back with a 'key' diagram identifying all the planets. I also have the sketches for the work. At one point I a detailed perspective 'master drawing' of the spacecraft was prepared, a task now done by computer using a digital model.

Don

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

This is definitively my favorite topic: Pioneer spacecraft near Jupiter and the Imaging Photo Polarimeter (IPP), which aimed according to preset ground commands, measured Jupiter's intensity every 1/1000th of a second in Red & Blue light.
After transmission of the number-coded intensities, super-imposition of R & B elements produced two-color images

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Question about the Pioneer 10 & 11 plaque.
At the bottom, the plaque shows the planets and the spacecraft going away after passing Jupiter... would the Pioneer 11 plaque show the spacecraft going away after Saturn?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...neer_plaque.svg

[mchan]

Pioneer 11 was not targeted for Saturn until after Pioneer 10 had a successful Jupiter encounter (which was after Pioneer 11 had launched). There was only 1 design used for both plaques.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

As promised one more Pioneer hardware photo showing the spacecraft during Thermal checks in 1971:

[Okei]

As promised one more Pioneer hardware photo showing the spacecraft during Thermal checks in 1971:

Hello,

I was a Mission Controller, Jr. at NASA Ames Research Center on Pioneer Project from about June 1979 until December 1979. If I can be of any help here; please let me know. I am an experienced Electronics Technician and was in the employ of TRW Defense and Space Sector in the early 80's.

Cheers

[pospa]

Hi, could anybody help me with a small Pioneer plaque mistery?
There is an article about Voyager spacecrafts live longevity in seriouse czech aviation&space magazine from 1987. Among others there is this picture of plaque with caption mentioning Voyagers. We all know that both Pioneers has this plaque and Voyagers this golden record.
It is obviouse that author of that article made a mistake with plaque picture but I would realy like to know what was the source of it. I couldn't find that version of depicted human figures with three children on the plaque anywhere on the internet.
Linda Salzman Sagan as an author of Pioneer plaque art work should know if its fake or one of her original drafts, but its difficult to ask her.
Maybe someone here would know it as well.
Thanks


Edit: latest info says the source of pictures in czech article should be Spaceflight magazine.

[gwiz]

I'd guess it's somebody's attempt at humour.

[Okei]

This is definitively my favorite topic: Pioneer spacecraft near Jupiter and the Imaging Photo Polarimeter (IPP), which aimed according to preset ground commands, measured Jupiter's intensity every 1/1000th of a second in Red & Blue light.
After transmission of the number-coded intensities, super-imposition of R & B elements produced two-color images

I want to remark here that we (Pioneer Project) added Green to the image to represent what it likely looked like.