The final contact attempt to reach NASA's Pioneer 10 satellite fell upon the probe's deaf ears, according to a report issued March 6th, 2006, by the Pioneer Anomaly Team.

Slava Turyshev, Pioneer Anomaly Team Member, writes:

"We carried out the observations of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, per a proposal that was approved by NASA earlier last week, on Friday and Saturday nights, March 3 and 4, 2006 (local time). Sadly, there was no real-time detection of a carrier signal from the spacecraft."

The Earth and planetary bodies were best aligned for contact for the last time on March 3rd and 4th, leading scientists to believe that despite the aging electronics on board, the extreme coldness of outer space and the dwindling power left in the space probe's communication systems, there was a chance to decipher Pioneer 10's faint output. Despite no obvious signal, the team plans to analyse the data further:

"We did carry out open-loop RSR [Radio Science Receiver] recordings of the two passes for archiving. We will process the recordings using parameters that would increase the resolution over the real-time spectral reporting by the receiver, and search for a signal."

The data collected over the two day period has now been assembled and ready for further analysis at JPL.

Is this the end of existence for Pioneer 10? We think not. Shine on, you crazy diamond!

Jeff Booth