API VERSION: 1.2
API SOURCE: NASA/JPL Horizons API

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 Revised: Jun 15, 2007             Pioneer 11 Spacecraft / (Sun)            -24
                       http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1973-019A.html

 BACKGROUND:

  This mission was the 2nd sent to the Jupiter system and the first to 
  investigate the planet Saturn and its ring system. 

  Closest approach to Jupiter cloud-tops was 42,000 km on Dec 3, 1974. It came 
  within 21,000 km of Saturn's cloud-tops on Sep 1, 1979. Pioneer 11, like 
  Pioneer 10, used Jupiter's gravitational field to alter its trajectory.

  Science operations and daily telemetry ceased on September 30, 1995 when the 
  RTG power level was insufficient to operate any experiments.

          Launched            : 1973-04-06 at 02:11:00 UTC
          On-orbit dry mass   : 259 kg
          Nominal Power Output: 165 W

 SPACECRAFT TRAJECTORY:

  Trajectory provided by JPL Navigation Team.  JPL Multimission NAV and Solar 
  System Dynamics Group source files:
 
       PN11A, PN11AB ("AB" is not a typo), PN11C, PN11D, PN11E, 
       PN11FE ("FE" is not a typo), PN11G, DE118
 
  The circumstances pertaining to the regeneration of the spacecraft
  trajectory source files, PN11*, are not well known.
 
  DE118 is a standard JPL planet ephemeris for the P11 Jupiter encounter.

  NOTE: This trajectory is suitable for general historical purposes, but should
  be used cautiously for high precision or tracking data applications. This is 
  due to potential dynamical mismatches between the Pioneer-11 era models 
  and the current modern solutions used by Horizons; for example, the old 
  DE-118 planetary ephemeris solution and the Lieske E3 satellite theory of     
  JUP035, SAT050, etc., as compared to what is used now. 

  For example, if the Pioneer-11 solutions used here incorporate planet or 
  satellite ephemeris corrections estimated at the time, distance from the 
  satellites returned by Horizons could be slightly different relative to 
  the original solutions. However, the coordinate system transformation from 
  the original DE-118 planetary ephemeris to the modern ICRF frame IS known 
  and computed by Horizons.
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