Oct 24 1979
From The Space Library
NASA reported that Pioneer 11 was working well on its way out of the solar system after a successful flyby of Saturn, during which it found two new rings and possibly a new moon of the planet. Barring a failure, the Pioneer could continue to return useful data until the late 1980s when it would pass beyond radio contact with Earth. The spacecraft was built by TRW Systems Inc., and the project was managed by ARC in California.
After a six-year trip of more than 3.2 billion kilometers (2 billion miles) in space, Pioneer 11 spent 10 days photographing and measuring the ringed planet. The spacecraft experienced at least two hits from meteroids above the rings of Saturn and three more hits below the rings; it recorded no damage from high-velocity ring particles, showing that spacecraft could operate safely near the visible rings. Major findings of the flyby included a magnetic field around Saturn; analysis of the gravity field and composition of the planet's core; radiation into space of 2.5 times more heat that Saturn received from the Sun; and low temperatures on the moon Titan that might remove the possibility of life there. (NASA Release 79-135; ARC Release 79-42)
ESA announced the signing of an agreement in Vienna October 17 giving Austria an associate membership for five years, during which it would take part in general studies of future space projects and contribute to the costs of those studies, being represented on ESA's council by no more than two delegates. (ESA Info Bltn 29)
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