The Pioneer 11, which
had transmit-
ted some spectacular
pictures of
Jupiter and its
moons, is now drifting towards
interstellar space
some 6.5 billion kin from
the earth. Its
power generators,
four radioisotope
thermoelectric
generators and electronic gear have
outlived themselves. The
spacecraft's radio
transmissions are now too
weak to be of
any use to scientific
research (Science, Vol 269,
September 22, 1995).
Surprisingly, its
twin - the
Pioneer 10 - launched
in 1972, still
has a few years of
power. By study-
ing the Pioneer I I's
electronic sys-
tems, scientists hope
to increase the
life of the other
satellite by a few months.
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