Why the heck does no one remember the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes? They were sent out first, you know. Ahead of the Voyager probes.
They weren't as sophisticated of course. Mainly they were meant to scout the way. Map the extent and the intensity of both Jupiter and Saturn's magnetic fields. They did have cameras - not as high resolution as those on the Voyagers - and did send back close-up images. Nothing as spectacular as the Voyager images of course. They were spin-stabilized and had limited angles on the cameras.
But they did make some important observations and based on the data received from the Pioneer probes, NASA actually modified several things about the Voyagers before they were launched.
The Voyager probes have since overtaken them and Voyager 1 is the furthest object launched from earth. The Pioneer probes have both lost too much power generation to communicate anymore. so they're effectively "dead".
Still - it's curious to me that in all these news stories no one ever remembers to mention them. It's like their role just seems to have been erased from history almost.
They weren't as sophisticated of course. Mainly they were meant to scout the way. Map the extent and the intensity of both Jupiter and Saturn's magnetic fields. They did have cameras - not as high resolution as those on the Voyagers - and did send back close-up images. Nothing as spectacular as the Voyager images of course. They were spin-stabilized and had limited angles on the cameras.
But they did make some important observations and based on the data received from the Pioneer probes, NASA actually modified several things about the Voyagers before they were launched.
The Voyager probes have since overtaken them and Voyager 1 is the furthest object launched from earth. The Pioneer probes have both lost too much power generation to communicate anymore. so they're effectively "dead".
Still - it's curious to me that in all these news stories no one ever remembers to mention them. It's like their role just seems to have been erased from history almost.