The Pioneer Anomaly Options

[remcook]

http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/pioneer_anomaly_faq.html

The planetary society may be checking it out...

The Planetary Society has committed to raise the funds to preserve the priceless Pioneer data from destruction.


After years of analysis, but without a final conclusion, NASA, astonishingly, gave up trying to solve the "Pioneer Anomaly" and provided no funds to analyze the data. The Pioneer data exists on a few hundred ancient 7- and 9-track magnetic tapes, which can only be read on "antique" outdated computers. The agency is going to scrap, literally demolish, the only computers able to access and process that data in the next few months!

[Guest_Richard Trigaux_*]

The LISA observatory project will use three test masses, each with its own shield, to detect gravitationnal waves.

The purpose of the LISA and of a Pioneer effect probe is different: the LISA will have to detect much weaker effects, using laser interferometry, while a Pioneer effect probe can be accurate enough with radio location. The LISA would not be bothered with a permament offset in the results, as it is meant to detect only transcient or periodic effects. But such a permanent offset would mess up a Pionner effect probe, as it studies signals which are constant over years.

For this reason I proposed my rotative shield design to cancel any permanent offset. This cannot be used by LISA. So they are developping a very accurate tracking system: 10 nanometres! Figure that this is better than welding the shield to the test mass with steel rods. Eventually this technology may be better than my rotating design to cancel even permanent offsets. So re-using the LISA technology may save most of the development costs for a Pioneer effect probe.