Mysterious Force Affects Pioneer 10 & 11 Probes

JabbaTheFart writes "The Guardian is writing that something strange is tugging at America's oldest spacecraft. As the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes head towards distant stars, scientists have discovered that the craft - launched more than 30 years ago - appear to be in the grip of a mysterious force that is holding them back as they sweep out of the solar system. Some researchers say unseen 'dark matter' may permeate the universe and that this is affecting the Pioneers' passage. Others say flaws in our understanding of the laws of gravity best explain the crafts' wayward behaviour."

It's the Klingons!

The question is can we develop the technology to detect tractor beams all the way out there from here?

Re:It's the Klingons!

The logic on which you draw your assumption seems to be flawed.

Contact with the Klingon empire was first made in 2151. Therefore, it is only logical to assume that they were nowhere near human space in 2004. It is most likely that the phenomenon in question was an anomaly caused by temporal vortex flux.

Re:It's the Klingons!

Maybe they can reverse the polarity of the probes' guidance system.

That's no Moon...

It's a SPACE STATION!!!

Different directions

What's interesting about this is the craft went in different directions out of the solar system, which rules out something like the mass of an unknown body in the outer solar system affecting their flight.

Re:Different directions

It could be an example of gravitiontational rippling.

a very large gravity well may have a ripple that exists some distance from the center of the gravity well. The sun's gravity well is big enough for us to notice this while the sun and other planets we did not notice it. we MIGHT be able to notice something if we look at the data as these probes appriached and passed juipter.

for the love of god,

exactly what was AFFECTED?

Re:for the love of god,

I can forgive the mods not knowing the difference between affect and effect, but can we please all donate a penny to buy the editors an English textbook?

Or...

They could just be hitting up against that big crystal shell that all the stars are painted on.

Re:Or...

I remember reading a quite striking short story about a crystal shell surrounding every solar system and it can only be broken from inside. It works like a semi-permeable interface, preventing aliens coming /communicating inside. A civilization will only manage to get outside of the shell by breaking the "egg". I can't remember the writer of the story nor the name but I think I read it on either Asimov or Analog in the last couple of years. Can anyone recall this story and remind me of its writer please?

Matrix

When you think about it, we know so little about deep space. Perhaps the Matrix doesn't go out that far? Clipping problems?

Re:Matrix

If they someday come back from the other side of space we can try and exploit an overflow.

Re:Matrix

Wouldn't the nearest Agent simply be able to manipulate the JPL computer consoles into giving out the right numbers?

"What you must realize is that there is no probe."

The force!

It is also thought that dark matter is at the centre of galaxies [abc.net.au] Could explain a lot of things, e.g. the expansion/contraction of the universe. Judging by the amount of "tangible" matter in the universe, there is no way to halt the expansion, and it will go on forever. However, if there is dark matter, it could hold enough gravity to halt expansion and force the big crunch. Lots of info on this sort of stuff here [theage.com.au]

Laws of Physics

It is neat to see things like this which challenge our understanding of relatively basic things like gravity. Part of me is still hopeful that we will find some holes in the relativity theory. More than a few scientists have pointed out other inconsistencies between observations and relativity. It would be nice not to be constrained by this whole 186,000 miles per second thing :)

*mumbles*

Ah yes, the good old "If you don't know, blame it on Dark Matter" strikes again.

A bit of editing would have helped

Note to Hemos: The verb is spelled "affect". You know, with an "a". The noun is spelled "effect", but it's the verb needed in the title.

Sorry, don't mean to sound curmudgeonly and grumpy and so forth, but so few people get this right that I can't stand by and let it slide.

I'll put the cantankerous old grouch away now...

Re:A bit of editing would have helped

My favorite affect/effect error was on a flyer at my college:

Try this exercise to explore your relationships and how they are effected by alcohol.

("Effect" as a verb means "to bring about or execute".)

Re:A bit of editing would have helped

Yes, effect is also a verb. But it's not the verb you're looking for.

Other Slashdot Story (from 3 years ago)

Bit of an old story [slashdot.org] this.

Conspiracy Theory

The Bush Administration is altering the laws of gravity in order to distract us from the situation in Iraq. A bill in Congress right now will nullify the law of gravity as we know it, taking away the rights of individuals to remain firmly planted on the Earth.

sorry 'bout that

what can I say... the damn things snagged my sweater during take-off, and I didn't want to say anything...

Better Article On The Subject

Link to the Physics Web article: http://physicsweb.org/article/world/17/9/3 [physicsweb.org]

Re:explanation???

One thing that is rare for {scientists] to admit is not knowing why something happens.

Only if by "rare" you mean "all the time."

Re:How do they track them?

The last signals were recieved from Pioneer 10 in early 2003, but telmetry stopped almost a year before. From the Feb. 25, 2003 press release that "pronounced" Pioneer 10 dead:

RELEASE: 03-082HQ PIONEER 10 SPACECRAFT SENDS LAST SIGNAL After more than 30 years, it appears the venerable Pioneer 10 spacecraft has sent its last signal to Earth. Pioneer's last, very weak signal was received on Jan. 22, 2003. NASA engineers report Pioneer 10's radioisotope power source has decayed, and it may not have enough power to send additional transmissions to Earth. NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) did not detect a signal during the last contact attempt Feb. 7, 2003. The previous three contacts, including the Jan. 22 signal, were very faint with no telemetry received. The last time a Pioneer 10 contact returned telemetry data was April 27, 2002. NASA has no additional contact attempts planned for Pioneer 10.