Pioneer Anomaly Solved!

not sure if its been posted , but i found this very interesting , i hope you all enjoy the read as much as i did , the answer is simple , have a look , enjoy

With the latest piece of the puzzle just published in a scientific journal, a solar system mystery that has perplexed people for more than 20 years has been solved, truly thanks to the support of Planetary Society members. That mystery is the "Pioneer Anomaly," an anomalous acceleration that affected the two Pioneer spacecraft as they left the solar system.

www.planetary.org...

reply to post by ShamilAbdullah


Yeah I remember this. i think it came out some time last summer. It was a problem with they shielding if i remember.

oh i was not aware this came out last summer lol , i thought it was new news lol oops

reply to post by ShamilAbdullah


So I don't get it.

Pioneer Anomaly Solved!

Second of all, because two sources of thermal radiation (heat) were then on the leading side of the spacecraft. The nuclear power sources, more formally Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTG), emitted heat towards the back side of the dishes. When the dishes reflected or re-radiated this heat, it went in the direction of travel of the spacecraft.

If the heat was being re-radiated off the back of the dishes wouldn't it just cancel out the forward motion of the original radiated heat?

Also, the warm electronics box for the spacecraft was on the leading side of the spacecraft, causing more heat to spill that direction.

Why would the heat 'spill that direction' and not just radiate?

I'm not saying there wasn't heat; just saying how could it be from these?

reply to post by luxordelphi


Think of it kind of like the Ion Drives that NASA uses(when they had funding) just slower. The charged particles coming out of the drive is what moves forward slowly.

So the same thing works with the bad shielding. The heat or radiation are just charged particle pushing back on Pioneer.

It would be like driving a boat with a normal outboard on the back and the trolling motor on the front running in reverse. You aren't going to notice the smaller motor is there until you start slowing down.

reply to post by DisIllusioned PatRiot


Thankyou for your attempts to explain. (Loving your avatar!) I'm not even sure I'll be able to understand this but here's my problem with it:

push-pull of charged ions seem like they would cancel each other out by the time they hit the dishes and bounce back

I'm not understanding why heat, or charged ions, would 'spill' in one direction - if there's an attraction, what caused that?

So the problem I have is not with the fact that Pioneer slowed down but with what attracted the charged ions. It seems like it would be the same thing and then you'd have to explain why and what to were they attracted.