Pioneer Anomaly Solved 147
First time accepted submitter gstrickler writes "After years of work recovering and analyzing old mission data and vehicle schematics, a just published analysis(Pdf) provides strong evidence for anisotropic thermal radiation being the source of the slowing of the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. The theory isn't new, but the recovered data and new analysis provide solid evidence that at least 80% of the deceleration is accounted for by anisotropic thermal radiation. Members of The Planetary Society were instrumental in recovering the data and helping fund the analysis. The lesson is, in space, it matters what direction your heat radiating surfaces point."
Re:This just in (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm thinking pointing your heat dissipating surfaces directly towards the sun might decrease the efficiency of said heat dissipation.
(Obviously this becomes less of a concern the farther from the sun you are)
Re:This just in (Score:5, Insightful)
Could one compromise and put the radiators perpendicular to the direction of the sun (and travel?) eg, not on the front or back, but on the sides? Provided you did so equally, any force resulting in their radiation should cancel itself out.
Re:Solved means %100 certainty (Score:4, Insightful)
100% certainty exists only in a fictional version of science.
They showed that the residual 20% is not statistically significant. This is a showing that there is no additional anomaly to be accounted for. This is what is called "solving a problem" in real science.
Re:This just in (Score:5, Insightful)
[...]and they might have other reasons for orienting the craft a certain way -- maybe to maximize cooling.
One end of the spacecraft is a big-ass radio dish, and the orientation is determined by pointing that dish at the Earth so that we can communicate with it.
Re:This just in (Score:4, Insightful)