The Pioneer Anomaly |
The Pioneer Anomaly |
Aug 16 2005, 04:27 PM
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Rover Driver Group: Members Posts: 1015 Joined: 4-March 04 Member No.: 47 |
http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/pioneer_anomaly_faq.html
The planetary society may be checking it out... QUOTE 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 The Pioneer data exists on a few hundred ancient 7- and 9-track magnetic tapes, which can only be read on "antique" outdated computers.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! |
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Nov 10 2005, 06:41 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1281 Joined: 18-December 04 From: San Diego, CA Member No.: 124 |
Call me old fashioned, but I am a bit wary of jettisoning the "old physics" when the effects are at what I understand to be the threshold of detection, and we really don't know what the environment the little guys are swimming in right now is like - we may need to look for a new theory of interstellar wind before altering the laws of motion.
Still it is fun to think about - and it IS possible I suppose - This page from the Planetary Society puts it well: QUOTE The simple engineering explanation cannot yet be ruled out, but enough work has been done in trying all the different possibilities that even Occam's Razor allows us to cut a little way into the idea of a new physics.
-------------------- Lyford Rome
"Zis is not nuts, zis is super-nuts!" Mathematician Richard Courant on viewing an Orion test |
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Nov 10 2005, 04:44 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 624 Joined: 10-August 05 Member No.: 460 |
QUOTE (lyford @ Nov 9 2005, 11:41 PM) Call me old fashioned, but I am a bit wary of jettisoning the "old physics" when the effects are at what I understand to be the threshold of detection, and we really don't know what the environment the little guys are swimming in right now is like - we may need to look for a new theory of interstellar wind before altering the laws of motion. Still it is fun to think about - and it IS possible I suppose - Pioneer 10 & 11 are not the only odd-ball observations, and I am not talking about rocks that look like a pock-marked Elvis. Pioneer 6 charted heavy Doppler residuals, and a linear component (similar to the term used in this paper) had to be added to the solar wind to plot both Galileo and Ulysses during interplanetary transitions. There is a possibility that when all the dots are connected, something fundamental will jump out of the wood work. |
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Nov 10 2005, 10:06 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1281 Joined: 18-December 04 From: San Diego, CA Member No.: 124 |
QUOTE (The Messenger @ Nov 10 2005, 08:44 AM) Pioneer 10 & 11 are not the only odd-ball observations.... (edit) ....There is a possibility that when all the dots are connected, something fundamental will jump out of the wood work. True, but we have too few dots right now, and this is another great reason to have more outer solar system missions! Though, infuriatingly, we will have to wait quite a long time for a return on investment, even for the New Horizons data. I don't mean to imply that only odd balls that make odd ball observations, and I realize an anomaly to be explained can be a doorway to new understanding - Black Body Radiation anyone? I find it fascinating nonetheless that the universe is understandable at all, and if you think about it, Science has only had a few centuries to explore the entire span of space time from our little home here. I am sure there are plenty of surprises in store. -------------------- Lyford Rome
"Zis is not nuts, zis is super-nuts!" Mathematician Richard Courant on viewing an Orion test |
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