Pioneer 10
March 2, 1972 was the launch of Pioneer 10, a 258kg robotic space probe that completed the first interplanetary space mission to Jupiter, and the first vehicle to achieve escape velocity from the solar system. The spacecraft was assembled around a hexagonal bus, with a 2.74m parabolic dish high-gain antenna oriented along the spin axis. Power was supplied by four radioisotope thermoelectric generators that produced 155 watts at the start of the mission. It was launched by an Atlas/Centaur expendable vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Between July 15, 1972 and February 15, 1973, it became the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt. Imaging of Jupiter began on November 6, 1973 at a range of 25 million km. A total of more than 500 images were submitted. The closest approach to the planet was on December 4, 1973 at a range of 25 million km. During the mission, the on-board instruments were used in study of the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter, solar winds, cosmic rays, and eventually the far reaches of the solar system and the heliosphere. Communication has been lost since January 23, 2003 because of power constraints, with the probe at a distance of 12 billion km (80AU) from Earth.