iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Pioneer 10 launched #OTD in 1972. It was a mission of firsts: passing through the asteroid belt, visiting Jupiter, crossing Neptune's orbit, achieving the speed needed to leave the solar system. We detected a last, faint signal on January 23, 2003. Now it belongs to the cosmos. 🧪 🔭 🛰️ Images: NASA

Color photo of the Pioneer 10 rocket launch, which took place at night. The photo is dominated by the bright white and yellow glowing exhaust at the bast of the rocket as it lifts off.

A black and white diagram showing the path of Pioneer "F" and "G," later dubbed "10" and "11," through the inner solar system, past the asteroid belt, and to the vicinity of Jupiter. The diagram shows the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Pallas, Vesta, Ceres, and Jupiter.

A (vertical) triptych of Jupiter images captured by Pioneer 10. All three photos show white, orange, and tan cloud bands. The Great Red Spot is on the left limb of the planet in the top photo, and moves towards the center in images 2 and 3. In addition, the shadow of an inner moon moves across the face of the planet.

Color image of the anodized aluminum plaque attached to Pioneer 10. It shows line art diagrams of a man and woman, their relative size compared to the probe, a diagram of our solar system with Pioneer's path past Mars and Jupiter then out of the solar system, our location relative to a number of pulsars, and a schematic representation of a well-known Hydrogen atom transition.

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Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

(Bluesky's moderation service is marking the full image of the plaque as "Sexually Suggestive" due to the representations of a man and woman. More on that in a moment.)

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