r

^
v .K r

n.

i 'I ^^ N9 T •,^

= c^
r— - G J ^ s

I ^
x
I r

E-^
I
o:r

U, V
ry A'
'2. 7
I N WIAIAIf I 1i2"W:1111N'1 ER
P 7

At 9.21 p.m. PST on Mcnday, December pole Along this trajectory the spacecraft Since Its launching on April 5, 1973.
2, 1974, Pioneer 11 will hurtle at the un- will hurtt3 almost straight up through the Pioneer 11 will have traveled 620 million
precedented speed of 107.373 miles per doughnut-shaped inner radiation belt, miles when it reaches Jupiter But it is
hour past Jupiter, only 26,600 miles many thousands of miles per hour faster destined for an even longer journey After
above the Jovian clout tops. This Arnen- than any man-made object has traveled Jupiter passage it will travel high above
can spacecraft is mans second trip to the before. the plane of the ecliptic—the plane of
Solar System s largest planet, but it Earths orbit around the Sun—and then
penetrates three times closer to Jupiter Passage through the belt at high sl -d descend to Saturn s orbit where it Is
than did Pioneer 10 which flew by Jupiter and high angle should allow Pioneer 11 scheduled to rendezvous with that
81,000 miles above the cloud tops almost to emerge unscathc,d while at the same planet If Pioneer 11 does survive pas-
one year beforehand. time permitting the spacecraft to enter sage through Jupiter s radiation belts it
the Darrow planetary flyby corridor that will, In October 1979. provide mankind
The closer approach of Pioneef 11 is de- will ensure a later encounter with the with a first close look at the unique ringed
signed to probe deeper into the radiation planet Saturn. planet of the Solar System
belts of energetic electrons and protons
that are trapped in Jupiter's magnetic Additionally, Pioneer 11 s trajectory dif-
field. Also the close approach permits the feis from Its predecessor because the During the several weeks around the
use piter's gravity and orbital motion passage is counter to the direction of date of closest approach to Jupiter—
to fli ioneer
, 11 across the Solar Sys- Jupiter's rotation (Figure 1). Thus, dur- termed periapsis—a team of spacecraft
ters to meet with the next outermost ing the encounter, the spacecraft will controllers, analysts and scientists at
p;arlet, • ringed Saturn, in 1979. Pioneer sample a complete revolution of the NASA Ames Research Center (Figure
11 is thus man's first attempt to use planet's magnetic field ano Jupiter s radi- 2;, and personnel of NASA's Deep Space
energy derived from a pass near Jupiter ation belts, and will observe the planet's Network, will run a three-shift, 24-
Wily to the next outer planet, an essen- surface features over several planetary hours-a-day control operation Applying
tial maneuver for ;ontinued economic revolutions. Moreover, because the experience obtained during the flyby of
exploration of the outer Solar System spacecraft approaches Jupiter from the Pioneer 10 last year, they will be alert to
south pole arid leaves over the north danger to they distant spacec raft frorn
Not only is the trajectory of Pioneer 11 pole. experimenters expect to obtain possible but unpredictable problems aris-
passing much closer to Jupiter than Its their first look at Jupiter poles. impossi- ing in the environment of the Jovian sys-
predecessor, but also it is directed qultc ble ♦•om Earth and from Pioneer 10 In- tem
differently, so as to reduce the time that stead of the familiar banded Jupiter, the
the spacecraft must be in the radiation polar views transmitted by Pioneer 11
belts. This is expected to safeguard the should show a circular polar region bor-
electronics and scientific instruments of dered with concentric rings. One theory Most of the commands sent from the
Pioneer from damage from the energetic suggests that the p< f ar atmosphere is ground to the spacecraft during the en-
protons and electrons Controllers have transpa7ent and will thereby permit counter period. amounting to many
directed the spacecraft Into the Jovian Pioneer s instruments to look deep down thousands of instructions. will be directed
system from far below Jupiter's south Into the Jovian atmosphere to the imaging photopolarimeter which
scans across Jupiter and some of its
large satellites to gather information that
will later be assembled by computer to
form spin-scan images of these bodies
(Figure 3). To send pictures of Jupiter
•` PIONEER 10 and its satellites to Earth. the imaging
uulsru+^4^^^•• TRAJECTORY photopolan meter scans a light-sensitive
OA""DE '•^ device across the disc of t-ie planet by
t , •♦p+
the rotation of the spacecraft The in-
• ♦• • EUROPA ••
♦ b •. strument measures brightness of the
.0 ♦ ♦♦
s♦
^•
light that is gathered from each of many
small areas of the scene The brightness
row. ^ ♦ ♦ ♦ 1
reading is converted into a binary
AI TIME
..•+• number—somewhat like the dots and
dashes of Morse code—and sent by
PIONEER 11 •. ^• ♦ ^^
TRAJECTORY • '++^^+ radio from the spacecraft to Earth Here
the stream of impulses is converted back
to appropriately positioned small gray
areas on film, thus creating a facsimile of
the view of Jupiter seen from the space-
craft. As the data needed to make one
spin-scan Image of the planet has to be
NON EN PULAN V01* 00 X VIAN SYS11
gathered over a period o f tI some-
times taking as long as one r. and
FIGURE 1 The Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 flybys of Jupiter. The positions of the Galilean satellites.
Callisto, Ganymede. Europa and to and cf the Innermost satellite Amafthea. are shown at the time of
because the spacecraft is moving and
periapsis of Pioneer 11 The dots on the orbits show the movement of the satellites and bc. - h Pioneer Jupiter is rotating on its axis. the pictures
spacecraft over intervals of two hours. reconstructed at Earth are distorted.
Later the distortions are removed by
! ,! ► !her computer processing of the re
turned data, but this enhancement of thi
returned Images takes time

Informatien from Vie spacecraft arrives

back at Earth on three large antennas.
2 4.0-foot diameter dishes as large as
for 'ball fields One is in the Mohave Des
-er,atGoldsn.CifAothersn
Spain, and the third Is In Austral , a Thus
as the Earth turns on Its axis and the
spacecraft sets at one of these stattoos.
the spacecraft rises at the next station.
Signals can accordingly be received un-
interruptedly for 24 hours each day

SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS Figure 2. The uista , it spacecraft i' ;ontrolled from NASA Arses Research C(-nter near San f Wnciscu.
California. where teams of High, controllers scientists. and engineers maintain 24 hours wVch
The science experiments to be made by during the period ref encour " !Photo of personnel at consoles of the PMOC)
Pioneer 11 in the Jovian system are
much the same as those made by
Pioneer 10 (l able 1).

• Measure Jupiter s magnetic field and

magnetosphere w!th two instruments
called magnetometers.
• Sense the interacho-s of Jupiter with
the solar wind—the stream of charged
particles flowing outward from the Sun
across the Solar System—by use of
an instrument that detects energetic
electrons and protons.
• M e asure the intensities, energies, and
distribution of energetic electrons and
protons in the radiation belts of Jupiter
by use of four particle detecting exper-
iments. Figure 3 A typical spin-scan Image of Jupiter returned from Pioneer I0 when it flew pest Jupiter in
• Check on meteoroids and dust near December 1973- Pioneer 11 will return similar pictures but at different look angles (Photo of Jupiter
Jupiter by means of a special four by Pioneer 10).
telescope systems and a group of
panels that detect punctures from im- D ATE T TIME — E VENT
pacting meteorites. NOV. 3011:28m. ULTRAVIOLET MEASUREMENT OF CALLISTO
• Sense Jupiter atmospheric composi-
tion and provide a thermal map of
DEC. 1 11:26 a.m. ULTRAVIOLET MEASUREMENT OF GANYMEDE
Jupiter's heat emission by use of in-
10:18 a.m. INFRARED MEASUREMENT OF CALLISTO
struments that measure ultraviolet 12:21 a.m. CLOSEST APPROACH TO CALLISTO. 488.730 MILES
and infrared radiation beyond the 1:50 a.m. ULTRAVIOLET MEASUREMENT OF GANYMEDE
visible spectrum 1:56 p m. INFRARED MEASUREMENT OF GANYMEDE
• Obtain spir,-scan Images of Jupiter 2:09 p m. CLOSEST APPROACH TO GANYMEDE, 43`:.195 MILES
and Its clouds and of several of its 2: e 5 p m. ULTRAVIOLET MEASUREMENT OF EUROPA
large satellites. using the Imaging 5:00 p.m. START INFRARED MEASUREMENTS OF JUPITER
photopolarimeter. 5:13 p.m. INFRARED MEASUREMENT OF AMALTHEA
• Measure the atmospheric characteris- 7:02 p.m. INFRARED MEASUREMENT OF 10
tics of the Jovian atmosphere by ob- 7:09 p.m. CLOSEST APPROACH TO 10. 195.120 MILES
serving the changes to the radio 8:15 p m. CLOSEST APPROACH TO EUROPA, 364.575 MILES
waves from the spacecraft as it passes 10:30 p.m. CLOSEST APPROACH TO AMALTHEA. 79.229 MILES
into and emerges from occultation by 10:52 p.m. INFRARED MEASUREMENTS OF AMALTHEA
Jupiter 11:. 00 - P.M. INFRARED MEASUREMENTS OF JUPITER
• Improve measurements of the orbit of 7:58 a.m. INFRARED MEASUREMENT OF 10
Jupiter and its satellites and the mass- 11:43 mm. INFRARED MEASUREMENT OF GANYMEDE
es of these bodies by precise tracking 9:45 p.m.I INFRARED MEASUREMENT OF CALLISTO
of the motion of the spacecraft as it
passes through the Jovian system. TABLE 1. Some Experiments
 V

N fl
N
h
N

0
IrZA
4:00 P.M.
P.S.T.
3:00 P.M. P.S.T.
December 1
December 2
10:00 A.M. P.S.T. 6:00 P.M. P.S.T. December 2
IF
December 2 7:00 P M. P.S.T. December 2

9:00 P.M. P.

M'ULWVY
Figure 0 This series of drawings produced wiginalty on a computi
appear Nom the Pioneer 11 spacecraft Bunny the encounter period.
details of the planets north and south polar regions dunr
pola'

THE ENCOUNTER SEQUENCE

Unlike Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 goes by On ihis encounter there is no their atmospheres cannot be probed di- As with f
Jupiter against the direction of the op i^ortunity for the spacecraft to rectly as was the atmosphere of to when of the er
planet's rotation. After passing in front of occult any of the Jovian satellites. so Pioneer 10 went behind that satellite copies
Jupiter as the planet moves along its Novembl
orbit round the Sun, the spacecraft it en The flyby trajectory is Inclined at an angle es from
goes around the dark side of Jupiter and of about 50 degrees to Jupiter s equator. outer reg ar
completeF a circuit of the planet by cross- As a result, the Pioneer 11 post flyby Ing from ua
ing the spacecrafts own incoming tra;ec- trajectory appears to proceed straight up miles fro
INAAUON,
tory and heading for Saturn. iaMeeN ^, ;...,. out of the ecliptic relative to Jupiter Ac
J^riwecr,_Mr ^ - Stage Ti
!wally the spacecratt almost paces Jupi-
Views of Jupiter its seen from the space-
craft are shown in (Figure 4). These
drawings resemble the PICS television
images which will be displayed quickly as
w `•
^:^^ IMtw ♦ '. I ter around the planets solar orbit, but
rises high above Jupiter until. in 1977, It
begins to fall back toward the ecliptic
plane for its rendezvous with Saturn
system.
Novembl
pass thr(
solar win
197
ecli
information comes to Earth and will be ( Figures 5a and 5b). field A i Sat
mane available to commercial television \ ^^tiYN 3^w
networks. Before c losest approac of the
spacecraft to Jupiter the terminator - -
boundary between day and night on the
planet — Is near the left hand edge of the
disc After closest approach, the ter-
minator will be near the upper right-hand Figure 5. a) is a diagram of the pants of Pioneer
edge of the disc of the planet. Most of the 10 and Pioneer 11 from Earth . Jupiter and
time the planet will appear gibbous, I e. beyond. Pioneer 10 shoots beyo; d Jupiter rsyht
shaped half-way between a half moon out of the Solar System. P:o eer 11 zooms
around Jupiter which flings It right ac, oss the
and a full moon. A crescent-shaped , Oar System to intercept Sa;ur t rn tho oppo- b) Theo a same trajectories are shown here in almostl end-on view
Jupiter will be seen only very near to site side Of the Sun in 1979 ' it of" on the rises high abois Jupiter before descending on the loppostte side
here
periapsis. orbits are positions at one month Inf*_•rvals orbit


t^

r.

4:00 A.M. P S.T.

December 3
Midnight P.S.T. December 2

10.00 P M. P.S T December 2

9:00 P.M. P.S.T. December 2

aced originally on a computer shows how the planet Jupiter will

during the encounter period This new view of Jupiter will reveal
polar regions

,d d--
As with Pioneer 10 there are five stages will enter the magnetosphere where the Stage Three is that period when Pioneer
of the encounter (Table 2). The first oc-
when magnetic fteld of Jupiter prevents the 11 continue, flying through the outer
cupies about three weeks after solar wind from approaching closer to the magnetosphere from about 3 to 2 million
November 2, when the spacecraft pass- planets surface miles from the planet
r angle
es from interplanetary space Into the
Iquator
outer regions of the Jovian system, mov-
Bt flyby
ing from about 15 million to 6 million
Bight Up TIME DISTANCE FROM JUPITER, STAGE OF
D miles from the planet.
ATE
ter Ac P.S.T kilometers J ENCOUNTER
is Jupl- Stage Two covers entry into the Inner
NOV. 2 4:00 p.m. 27,398,000 1
bit, but system Sometime after 8:00 a m. on
12 4:00 p.m. 19,162,000
1977 it November 25 Pioneer 11 Is expected to
22 4:00 p.m. 10,646,000
ecliptic ,,)ass through the bow shock wave in the
2 7
solar wind created by Jupiter s magnetic 4:00 p.m. 6.111,000 2
Saturn
field. A short while later, the spacecraft 30 4:00 p.m. _ 3.103,000
DEC. 1 4:00 p.m. 1,956,000 3
2 9:21 p.m. 114,0_00' 4
3 4:00 p.m. 1,382.000
4 4:00 p.m. 2,f? j7.O00
r..wcro.. 8 4:00 p.m. 6.631.000
13 4:00 p.m. 11.127.000 5
23 4:00 p.m. 19.615.000
31 4:00 p.m. 26,207,000
Note: Dist ...es are from center of Jupiter. Closest approach Is to 42,820 kilometers
above the cloud tops.
here in almos end-on view to illustrate how the path of Pioneer 11
ending on the I opposite side of the Sun to meet with Saturn on Its
TABLE 2. Distances During Encounter


blage Four Is the period arc id closest November ?5 About '3 00 p m on Pioneer 11 also :aspects Callisto.
approach, covering the day and a halt November 26 the spacecraft should Ganymede, and Europa In ultraviolet
before and after periapsis Here is where enter the magnetosphere Imaging (pic- light and makes infrared measurements
the spacecraft makes most of Its mea- ture taking) and photometry (light of Callisto, Ganymede. Amalthea and Ir,
surements and flies by the large Inner analysis) of Jupiter starts on November 2 (Table 4) Some measurements are re-
satellites Pioneer 11 makes hundreds of over a period of 4 to 8 hours each day peated on the outbound passage
spin-scan Images of the planet and sev- through November 24, and then con-
Just before closest approach at 9.21 p m 1
eral Images of the large satellites and tinues for 23 hours each day until 3 00
on December 2 Pioneer 11 enters the
flies through the Inner radiation belt p m on December 9 By 9 2 p m on
cold blackness of Jupiter s shadow. and
November 30 all pictures of Jupiter
During Stage Five, Pioneer 11 leaves should become better in quality tna;
40 seconds afterwards Is hidden from
Jupiter behind and repeats many of the those obtained by telescope from Earth
Earth by the bulk of the planet A radio
earlier experimental sequences but in During the close encounter period
blackout occurs as the spacecraft hurtles
reverse order. Pioneer 11 should also return 3 pictures
through the most intense region of the
of Callisto and one each of Ganymede
radiation belts
On November 7. during Stage One of the and to T his will be the second time that Mission controllers arid scientists will not
encounter. Pioneer 11 crosses the orbit Ganymede has been photographed but know A Pioneer 11 has survived the radi-
of Hades, outermost satellite of Jupiter the first time for Callisto and lo. ation until 9.43 p m (21 minutes and 44
In the next ;;,w days the spacecraft silc-
cessively crosses the orbits of Pan and _ DAT E TIME_ EVENT
Andrastea By November 21 Pioneer 11
crosses the orbit of Hera at lust over 7 NOV. 25 8:00 a.m. ENTER JUPITER S BOW SHOCK WAVE
million miles from Jupiter; then the orbits (EARLIEST)
of Demeter and Hestia. But the Jovian 26 8:00 a.m ENTER JUPITER'S MAGNETOSPHERE
system is so big that despite the enor- (EARLIEST)
mous speed of Pioneer it is not itil De- DEC. 2 3:21 p.m. ENTER RADIATION BELT AT 3.5 JUPITER
cember 1, the day before closest ap- DIAMETERS FROM CLOUDS AND 6
proach that the spacecraft begins to HOURS FROM r,LUSESI APPROACH
cross the orbits of the large Inner satel- 9:00 p.m GO INTO SHAI.,OW OF JUPITER
lites Pioneer 11 comes within 488.730 • 21 SECONDS FOR 33 MINUTES AND 31 SECONDS
miles of Callisto, which is as large as the OF SOLAR OCCULTATION
planet Mercury Next the spac,^,,raft GO BEHIND JUPITER FOR 42
makes its closest approach to Gany-
9:00 P.M.
mede (larger than Mercury) of 430.195
42 SECONDS MINUTES AND 2 SECONDS OF RADIO
miles, then passes withir 195,120 miles
OCCUI T AT ION (BLACKOUT).
of lo, which is larger than Earth's Moon 9:21 p.m CLO!:E3T APPROACH (PFRIAPSIS)
Finally Pioneer 11 passes at 364,575 9:43 r..m. OUT Ot OCCULTATION. RADIO SILENCE
miles of Europa which is as large as the SHG' ,LD END
Moon. And unlike Pioneer 10, Pionee r 11 3 3:21 a.m. LEAVE RADIATION BELT
crosses t he orbit of Amalthea. the inner-
most of Ju p iter s satellites and ap- 10 l MIDI GHT LEAVE BOW SHOCK (LATEST)
proaches to within 79.224 miles of that
tiny world (Table 3).

The spacecraft will first detect the pres- seconds after periapsis). when the
ence of Jupiter as it crosses the bow spacecraft emerges from behind Jupiter
shock. perhaps as early as 8 00 a m on and radio contact car again take place. It
Pioneer 11 does survive, information will
DISTANCE FROM JUPITER again pour back over the radio link to
SATELLITE DATE TIME PST Earth, and Pioneer will continue its spin-
miles I km
scan picture taking and other scientific
HADES NOV. 7 4:30 a.m. 14,683.000 (23.632.000) observations as It speeds from the Jo-
POSEIDON 7 4:49 p.m. 14.417.000 (23.204.000) vian system
PAN 8 7:50 p.m. 13.841.000 (22.276.000)
ANDRASTEA 10 7:29 p.m. 12.820.000 (20,634.000)
HERA 21 10:03 a.m. 7.248.000 (11, 667.000) JUPITER PICTURES
DEMETER 21 10:50 a.m. 7.231.000 (1? 639.000) Picture taking sequences of Pioneer 11
HEST:A 21 5:21 p.m. 7.084,000 (11.403.000) are summarized in Table 5 Color pic-
CALLISTO DEC. 1 I 5:27 p.m. 1.125.295 (1,812.800) tures will start to be Interesting around
GANYMEDE 2 8 01 a.m. 624.953 (1,001.1401 November 2 when the planet, a little over
EUROPA 2 2:06 p.m. 372.803 (601.780) 17 million miles from the spacecraft, will
t0 2 5:23 p.m. 217,945 (352.560) fill 1 ! 50th of the imaging photopolarime-
;AMALTHEA 2 810 p .m. 68.630 (137.260) ter s 14 degree field of view. By
November 27 Jupiter roll occupy 1 ,10th
TABLE 3. Times of Crossing Satellite Orbhs of thr n view and by r vemhnr ? O 1 7th


! The planet s disc will exceed the field of In detail than the best pictures f.om In 1979 the spin-scan imaging system
view of the Imaging Instrument al 12 Earth However, during closest approach will provide mankind with the first close-
hours before periapsis so that only part t he Intense particle radiation in the belt up views of satellites of Saturn. the sev•
of Jupiter will subsequently be Imaged may cause the photopolarimeter to eral distinc t rings, and the cloud bands of
until the spacecraft moves away from the cease to operate temporarily, or may re- the planet itself And the scientific exper-
planet again duce the quality of the Images iments with Pioneer 11 will sense the ef-
fects of Saturn on the solar wind, meas-
During the 96 hours centered on periap- ure the heat radiated from the planet, and
Since most of the Pioneer 11 pictures will sis the spin-scan imaging system will search for a magnetic field After its en-
be views down toward either the north or send to Earth about 40 pictures of the full counter with Saturn Pioneer t 1 will head
south pole, the general appearance of planet, many pictures of pof lions of the out into interstellar space, mankind s
Jupiter will be dramatically different from surface three of the satellite Callisto. second emissary to the stars
the Pioneer 10 or Earth view—the new and one each of Ganymede and to As
pictures will show concentric circular Pioneer 11 swings around Jupiter. Sun
tortes around each pole instaad of the
familiar parallel bands seen in telescopes
angles not possible from Earth (and not STUDY PROJECTS
obtained from Pioneer 10) will be seen
from Earth with almost every picture ONE
Details shown In every picture in the 96- Incoming Colo- and black and white pic- lake the various events listed in Tables 1
hour period centered on periapsis should tures will be displayed on TV monitors as through 5 and make a combined listing of
be better than the best views from they arrive frrim PIoi'eer They will then the sequential happenings when Pioneer
Earth-based telescopes Pioneer will be be photographed from 'he mon;tors and 11 flies through the Jovian system List
taking It,, best pictures in the 24 hours distributed to the news media the date, time, what happens and leave
before and after periapsis when within a column for remarks about each hap-
about one million miles of Jupiter Sev- pening Give distances In both kilometers
eral close-up pictures of Jupiters cloud ON TO SATURN and miles It will be necessary for you to
tops taken near periapsis will be some- When Pioneer 11 heads out from the Jo- use simple multiplication. a slide rule. or
,r,hat distorted at first viewing but they ,,ill vian system its mission Is by no means a desk calculator to make the conver-
be improved oy subscquent computer complete It wiil become the first space- sions between the English and the Metric
processing fhe picture lust before craft from Earth to fly by the mighty systems
periapsis, which will show a part of the planet Saturn. only slightly smaller than
surface of the planet including the Great Jupiter but with a unique ring system. TWO
Red Spot, will be about five times better (Figure 6). Use the list you have made: during the
encounter watch TV. listen to radio, and
read newspapers to check each event as
It is reported Fill in remarks as to what Is
discoverod
DATE APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF OBJECT
P ICTURES
NOV 25 JUPITER THREE
26 25 JUPITER As a classroom project place a geometri-
27 17 JUPITER cal drawing on the blackboard a large
28 22 JUPITER square or a triangle Each student makes
29 15 JUPITER a '4 Inch hole in the center of a card
30 24 JUP ITER Holding the card at arms length in front
DEC 1 I 14 JUPITER of the eye it is impossible to sr le all the
2 CALLISTO geometrical design o r he board, only
2 8 JUPITER part of It However L)y scanning the hole
1 CALLISTO across the blackboard in a series of
1 GANYMEDE sweeps. the student can see the whole of
11 JUPITER the figure on the blackboard but not all at
1 IO one time This Illustrates the spin-scan
15 JUPITER technique used to build up a picture of
18 JUPITER Jupiter ove r a period of time by scanning
10 JUPITER the disc with a `;mall aperture telescope
22 JUPITER
28 JUPITER
19 JUPITER READING LIST
TEST IMAGES OF JUPITER WILL BE OBTAINED BEFORE AND AFTER THE Watch TV newscasts and special pro-
PERIOD DETAILED ABOVE. ENCOUNTER ENDS AT 4:00 P.M. 3 JANUARY 1975 grams
Listen to radio newscasts
Read your Kcal newspaper or national
newsmagazine during the encounter
TABLE 5. Images of Jovian Objects period.