Mysterious Force Holds Back NASA Probe In Deep Space

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 2-10-2002 | Robert Matthews

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Perhaps it is having trouble making its way through all that pesky dark matter.

[Selara]

After reading this article, I immediatly thought of theologian, C. S. Lewis' speculations that our planet and solar system was under "quarantine" because of sin.

He put forth this speculation in the Perelandra trilogy. Very interesting.

[malakhi]

Hmm, they didn't mention drag due to interstellar gas, did they? That would seem to be a candidate, would it not?

That is the first thing that occurred to me, too.

[El Gato]

If all the probes are experiencing about the same amount of anomalous accelleration, but presumably are heading off in different directions, then whatever is causing it must be either something associated with the solar system itself, or be some isotropic (same in all directions) property of the local interstellar neighborhood. All these probes are still fairly close to the solar system, so that any effect from other (known that is) stars and such would be fairly small, and with gravity effects from them well accounted for at any rate. To get a feel for the scale of things: Pioneer 10 is only 11 light hours out, with Voyager 1 being somewhat farther out. The nearest star is something like 4 light *years* away, the earth is about 8 light *minutes* from the sun.

[litehaus]

NAH! It's a magnet being held the wrong way by the PROJECTIONIST who is on the OTHER side of the screen that we all think is the sky!!

[El Gato]

my completely unsubstantiated guess is non-precise calculations, bad data by a small degree, leading to erroneous conclusions

If it were just the one probe exhibiting the anomolous accelleration, you could be right. However it's all of them, AFAIK. Such errors would tend to be in different directions for different probes, with some appearing to not slow down enough, rather than too much. With all the "errors" in one direction, it's probably a real effect.

[RightWhale]

What is the thickness of the firmament? It's solid and transparent, but how thick it it?

Some believe it is 5 centimeters thick.

[RightWhale]

our planet and solar system was under "quarantine" because of sin.

What is the drag coefficient of sin? :)

[El Gato]

They also don't know the exact mass of the spacecraft - there may be residual fuel onboard that wasn't used but isn't accounted for in the mass calculation.

The mass of the spacecraft doesn't matter. All objects are accellerated the same amount, by gravity that is, regardless of their mass. This is due to the gravitational mass being the same as the inertial mass.... Or is it? Perhaps at very low gravitational strength values they are not quite the same..quantum effects perhaps?

[PatrickHenry]

What is the thickness of the firmament? It's solid and transparent, but how thick it it? Some believe it is 5 centimeters thick.

Maybe. But it could be thicker. It has to be thick enough to hold back the waters above the firmament, and also to contain the stars, which orbit the earth every 24 hours. The sun, moon, and planets orbit the earth from inside the firmament, naturally, and are probably in a water-free environment. The Good Book is an excellent guide on these matters.

[RightWhale]

The sun, moon, and planets orbit the earth from inside the firmament

The sun, moon, planets, and stars, I thought, were created on a later day, and in the firmament itself. Not above the firmament, not underneath the firmament, but in the firmament. Ge 1:19 -- and the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

[techcor]

I highly doubt some Freeper speculation will arrive at a possibility they have not thought of....

I disagree. Freepers will arrive at possibilities nobody else will think up. Maybe not realistic possibilities. Maybe somebody up there doesn't want us traveling to other solar systems.

[mlo]

Plus, call me nuts, but I think the scientists would have thought of that....I highly doubt some Freeper speculation will arrive at a possibility they have not thought of....

You would be surprised what scientists don't think of. :)

[PatrickHenry]

Not above the firmament, not underneath the firmament, but in the firmament.

Yes, which is why your 5cm thickness hypothesis may be off by about 15 billion light years. I am presently working on calculating the quantity of water which Genesis says lies above the firmament. So far, I've devoted the last 30 years of my life to this problem. Soon I shall be able to publish my findings. Hint -- the mass of such extra firmamento fluid is sufficient to cause the redshift of distant stars.

[RightWhale]

The firmament is 5 cm thick. It contains all the stars and planets, even the sun. It might seem that the sun wouldn't fit in the firmament, being much more than 5 cm in thickness, but that is only because we don't perceive it correctly. The water on the other side of the firmament wouldn't be of any interest to us who are on this side of the firmament.

Please keep us appraised of progress on your calculation. Do you have a newsletter? :)

[PatrickHenry]

Please keep us appraised of progress on your calculation. Do you have a newsletter? :)

I'm working on a website, to be named BeyondTheFirmament.com To be cross-linked with ICR and Answers In Genesis. I predict that the trans-firmament will be the final frontier.

[longshadow]

Hint -- the mass of such extra firmamento fluid is sufficient to cause the redshift of distant stars.

Presumeably, if we were to send a probe out there to collect a sample of this fluid, it would be referred to as a ......

...... extra firmamento memento!!!!!

[PatrickHenry]

Presumeably, if we were to send a probe out there ...

Can't be done. First, the probe must get past Uranus, which as all can see, is so huge that it engulfs everything.

[ChadGore]

They prolly didn't put any muffler bearings in the headlight fluid.

[NorseWood]

bump