Pioneer 10 Fell Silent in 2003 After RTG Failure, Drifting 140 AU Toward Aldebaran
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 1
Pioneer 10 Fell Silent in 2003 After RTG Failure, Drifting 140 AU Toward Aldebaran
1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 1
Summary
NASA’s last data from Pioneer 10 arrived on April 27, 2002, and its final signal—carrying no telemetry—was detected on Jan. 23, 2003 before contact attempts failed.
RTG power decay likely dropped below the level needed to run the transmitter, leaving the 1972 probe intact but unpowered and no longer trackable by direct signal.
About 140 astronomical units from the Sun, Pioneer 10 is still receding at roughly 2.5 AU a year, with its position now inferred from trajectory rather than measured.
The oft-cited claim that it is heading for Aldebaran in 2 million years is only approximate: the figure targets the star’s current position, not a true rendezvous with a moving star.
Its gold-anodised plaque—designed by Carl Sagan, Frank Drake and Linda Salzman Sagan after Eric Burgess proposed the idea—now endures mainly as a symbolic message from humanity rather than a likely interstellar greeting.