“Pioneer 10 has fallen silent after traveling billions of miles from Earth on a mission that has lasted nearly 31 years, NASA said on February 25, 2003. [T]he spacecraft’s last signal was received on Jan. 22 by the JPL’s Deep Space Network. At the time, Pioneer 10 was 7.6 billion miles from Earth; the signal, traveling at the speed of light, took 11 hours and 20 minutes to arrive.” A stunning achievement, no doubt, nonetheless the first thing to jump out at me in all the coverage is that it took us 31 years to fling something 11.3 light-hours from Earth. I suppose this means that when my hypothetical fortune comes to me, I should sink it into nanotech and anti-aging as opposed to space flight. Though it might be fun to rule an independent sultanate on Mars… choices, choices.