Pioneer Saturn

The Pioneer Saturn spacecraft, designated Pioneer 11 until its encounter with Jupiter, is presented, and its trajectory is reported. The 550-pound spin-stabilized spacecraft carries 12 scientific instruments, 11 of which were operational during its encounters with Jupiter and Saturn. After the successful completion of the Pioneer 10 Jupiter fly-by, for which Pioneer 11 was intended as a back-up, the Pioneer 11 spacecraft was committed to a Saturn-bound trajectory, and was sent on a spiral trajectory around Jupiter to approach Saturn. After mid-course maneuvers, the spacecraft arrived at Saturn on September 1, 1979, where it penetrated the ring plane outside of the visible rings, descending from above the ecliptic plane late in the morning quadrant, and making measurements of the planetary magnetosphere and its interaction with the solar wind, infrared radiation and gravitational and atmospheric effects on the radio signal. Pioneer Saturn departed from Saturn slightly above the ring plane, crossing the orbit of Titan 25 hr after Saturn flyby, and became the second spacecraft to escape the solar system.