Posted: Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 8:28 PM ET (0128 GMT)
NASA announced late Tuesday that it plans no further efforts to communicate with the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, launched nearly 31 years ago and currently at the fringes of the solar system. During a communications session with the spacecraft January 22 controllers were able to detect the carrier signal from the spacecraft, but the signal was too weak to allow the Deep Space Network's antennas to lock on and record telemetry. Antennas were unable to detect any signal from the spacecraft during another session on February 7. Project officials surmise that the spacecraft is too distant™over 12 billion kilometers from Earth™and its radioisotope power source now too weak to generate a signal strong enough to be heard on Earth, so no future communications sessions are planned. Pioneer 10 was launched in March 1972 and became the first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt and fly past Jupiter. The spacecraft was designed for only a 21-month mission. "It was a workhorse that far exceeded its warranty, and I guess you could say we got our money's worth," said project manager Larry Lasher.

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