Posted on 03/28/2007 6:18:54 PM PDT by KevinDavis
NEW YORK – It’s been years since NASA last heard from either of its two Pioneer probes hurtling out of the solar system, but scientists are still debating the source of an odd force pushing against the outbound spacecraft.
Dubbed the Pioneer Anomaly, the unexplained force appears to be acting against NASA’s identical Pioneer 10 and 11 probes, holding them back as they head away from the Sun
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
This was all explained in Philip Farmer's "Pocket Universe" series.
bump for later reading on gravity anomaly
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Phillip Farmer...eh?
I liked Venus on the Half Shell.
Bookmark
Mystery force tugs distant probes
Source: BBC News
Published: Tuesday, 15 May, 2001, 15:46 GMT 16:46 UK Author: Dr David Whitehouse
Posted on 05/17/2001 01:31:37 PDT by AndrewC
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b038c692f17.htm
Gravitational anomalies: An invisible hand?
From The Economist print edition | Aug 19th 2004
Posted on 08/21/2004 4:31:57 AM EDT by ScuzzyTerminator
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1196132/posts
Pioneer [gravitational] anomaly put to the test
Physics World | September 2004 | Slava Turyshev and John Anderson
Posted on 09/27/2004 2:38:32 PM EDT by PatrickHenry
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1228396/posts
Scientists ponder the problem with gravity
Space COM | October 18, 2004 | Robert Roy Britt
Posted on 10/18/2004 3:27:05 PM EDT by roaddog727
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1248992/posts
The Unfinished Quest to Solve the Pioneer Anomaly (unknown gravitational effect)
The Planetary Society | 11 May 05 | John D. Anderson, Philip A. Laing, Eunice L. Lau, Michael Martin Nieto, and Slava G. Turyshev
Posted on 05/11/2005 9:33:22 AM EDT by Arkie2
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1400907/posts
Computer Sleuths Try To Crack Pioneer Anomaly
New Scientist | 3-2-2007 | Stuart Clark
Posted on 03/02/2007 7:30:53 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1794297/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1794297/posts
"The so-called Pioneer anomaly showed up in the tracking data as a tiny deceleration for both spacecraft, even though they were heading in different directions. It was as if the Sun’s gravity was pulling a little harder than Newton’s laws predicted (see 13 things that do not make sense)... The source of the deceleration has long been suspected to be heat escaping from the small nuclear generators onboard, known as RTGs (Radioisotope Thermal Generators). Previous analyses that claimed to rule out this effect have been contested."
It's a bit odd that TVF has such a rational approach to this anomaly, but can't just drop the whole "Face on Mars" delusional system.The Pioneer Anomalous AccelerationIn investigating this anomaly, we first noted that the spacecraft unmodeled accelerations are so relatively large that they must be unique to very small bodies because the planets, moons, comets, and asteroids at any distance do not share these accelerations. Something of a similar (but not quite the same) size is seen in the Ulysses spacecraft with an orbit near Jupiter's, but not in the Voyagers or other spacecraft. Yet the Pioneer anomalous acceleration is of a magnitude such as might be produced by an undiscovered planet inside the orbit of Neptune with a mass of 1.5 Jupiters, or more than 0.1% of the Sun's own acceleration at the distance of the Pioneer spacecraft. The distinguishing characteristic of gravitational forces is that they induce the same acceleration in masses of all size. Therefore, whatever the anomalous acceleration may be, it is definitely not gravitational, and appears to be specific to certain spacecraft... A paper in the Los Alamos archive seems to explain the puzzle. See link. In brief, the anomalous acceleration may arise from radiation of waste heat by the on-board spacecraft RTG power generator. The Earth-pointing orientation of the distant spacecraft is what makes the force appear radial to the Sun. The waste heat explanation, or some variant of it, is surely correct because it matches the circumstances (choice of spacecraft affected, strength and specific signature of anomalous acceleration) so well. The waste heat itself is in excess of 2000 watts, and the anomaly requires an asymmetry in the dumping of that heat of just 60 watts, or about 3%. Those familiar with the spacecraft configuration can already account for about half that much asymmetry. Surely, some unnoticed factor will explain the remaining asymmetry because the alternative is that each of these particular spacecraft is affected by two different anomalies having a similar magnitude and direction.
by Tom Van Flandern
Meta Research
last updated 2004 June 11
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I read those once upon a time...the thought vaguely crossed my mind as I read the story exerpt...
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