hgw@sonia.math.ucla.edu (08/29/88)
Greetings, I've always wondered about this so I'm finally asking. Is Pioneer 10 still sending information back to earth? Not just information on its well being but space data. I'm sure it's too dark to take pictures (not much to take pictures at either). But are there other data gathering devices working and sending back information? Is there anybody here on earth analysing these data? Can these data be distributed to people like you and me and crunched by our own computers? If Pioneer passed by an alien spacecraft will we ever know about it? Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Harold Wong (213) 825-9040 UCLA-Mathnet; 3915F MSA; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA 90024-1555 ARPA: hgw@math.ucla.edu BITNET: hgw%math.ucla.edu@INTERBIT
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (08/31/88)
In article <46@sunset.MATH.UCLA.EDU> hgw@MATH.UCLA.EDU () writes: >I've always wondered about this so I'm finally asking. Is Pioneer 10 still >sending information back to earth? Not just information on its well being but >space data... Yes, it's still returning data from some of its particles-and-fields instruments. There is considerable interest, in particular, in finding out where the boundary between the Sun's atmosphere (aka the solar wind) and the interstellar medium is. It was originally thought that there was a good chance that P10 would have passed it by now; nope. >I'm sure it's too dark to take pictures (not much to take pictures >at either). Pioneer 10 didn't have a particularly spiffy camera anyway. >... Can these data > be distributed to people like you and me and crunched by our own computers? You could probably get it, if you knew where to ask and were willing to pay duplication costs. (Actually, some of it may be covered by the usual sort of "prime investigator gets one year's use of the data before it goes public" rules, but it's all public domain eventually.) Most of it will be singularly boring. >If Pioneer passed by an alien spacecraft will we ever know about it? Hmm, someone more familiar with P10's instruments than I would have to answer that one. I suspect the answer is "maybe" -- it depends on whether the alien spacecraft's propulsion systems, etc., show up on any of the instruments. They weren't designed for alien-spacecraft detection... -- Intel CPUs are not defective, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology they just act that way. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu