![]() The DSN comprises of a large network of a number of antennas and other communication facilities. The communications are directed toward the Deep Space Network, a part of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The 2110 MHz band was used for uplink from Earth and 2292 MHz for downlink to earth. ![]() The communications from the spacecraft was handled using transceivers that received and transmitted data using the S-band frequencies. A power of 100 watts is required to for the functioning of the different systems and the instruments. However, when the spacecraft was near Jupiter the power output had deteriorated to 140 w. They produced a combined power of 155 watts during the launch of the space craft. The Pioneer 11 spacecraft is powered using four generators (radioisotope thermoelectric). Whereas the first pair helped to maintain a constant spin rate of 4.8 rpm, the second pair helped to keep up the forward thrust, and the third pair helped to maintain the altitude. The spacecraft’s orientation was controlled with the help of six hydrazine thrusters. ![]() The space craft also carried a low-gain multidirectional antenna that was mounted below the high-gain antenna. This was used to house the propellant in a spherical tank as well as eight of the eleven scientific instruments that it carried. The main compartment in the spacecraft is in the shape of a hexagon. The spacecraft weighing 259 kg was 2.9 m long with a high gain antenna of diameter 2.74 m made of aluminum honeycomb designed sandwich material. Under the management of NASA Ames Research Center, the building of Pioneer 11 was contracted to TRW as part of the Pioneer Program. The flyby mission to Saturn was an additional goal and the space probe was expected to study the planet’s atmosphere, composition, its interaction with the solar wind, investigate and study Saturn’s rings, and its moon called Titan. Other objectives included the study of the interplanetary medium found beyond Mars’ orbit, study of Jupiter’s environment, and study of the asteroid belt and whether it would harm future space missions to the outer solar system. One of the main objectives of the Pioneer 11 mission was to explore the outer solar system. Pioneer 11 is purportedly heading in the direction of a constellation called Scutum. It was traveling outwards at the rate of 11.38 km/s. As of September 2012, Pioneer 11 was at a distance of about 86.39 AU from the sun. The mission of Pioneer 11 was approved in 1969 along with that of its twin probe Pioneer 10 which was launched a year before, that is, on 3rd March, 1972. Because of power constraints, communication with the probe was last had on 30th November 1995. The space craft was launched from Cape Canaveral using an Atlas-Centaur rocket. Pioneer 11 (also called Pioneer G) is a space probe launched by NASA on 6th April, 1973, on a mission to study the outer gas planets Jupiter and Saturn, the interstellar space, cosmic rays, and the solar wind.
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