Where are the Pioneer and Voyager space probes? Are they still operating? Is anybody listening to them?
Asked by: Chris Preston
Answer
These space probes are still operating though they are not providing scientific
information any longer. In fact NASA announced just recently that it was going to
try to make contact with Pioneer if the craft is still capable of sending
transmissions. Voyager 1 is now about 12 billion kilometers from earth and Pioneer
(actually Pioneer 10) is even farther away and heading towards the constellation
Taurus (though it won't get there any time soon!).
If you are interested in learning more about the status of these projects I would
refer you to the NASA website where all ongoing projects are listed:
'To myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.'