Pioneer 10 Pioneer 10 Pioneer 10 (originally designated Pioneer F) is an American space probe, launched in 1972 and weighing , that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. Thereafter, "Pioneer 10" became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity that will allow them to leave the Solar System. This space exploration project was conducted by the NASA Ames Research Center in California, and the space probe was manufactured by TRW Inc. "Pioneer 10" was assembled around a hexagonal bus with a diameter parabolic dish high-gain antenna, and the spacecraft was spin stabilized around the axis of
Exploration of Jupiter is the amount of radiation to which a space probe is subjected, due to the harsh charged-particle environment around Jupiter (for a detailed explanation see Magnetosphere of Jupiter). For example, when "Pioneer 11" made its closest approach to the planet, the level of radiation was ten times more powerful than "Pioneer"s designers had predicted, leading to fears that the probes would not survive. With a few minor glitches, the probe managed to pass through the radiation belts, but it lost most of the images of the moon Io, as the radiation had caused "Pioneer"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s imaging photo polarimeter to receive false