Pioneer Anomaly

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly

Is this the result of:

Observational error?

A data computation error?

A technical problem with the space probes?

An unknown physics phenomenon at work?

Something else?


Lets hear some (informed) opinions!

wrote in
oups.com:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly

Apparently it's not even certain that anything has actually
happened; measurement and statistical error might explain it.
The New Horizons mission to flyby Pluto and explore Kuiper
Belt objects may yield new data. Or may not.

It appears we will have to wait for results. I'm betting
on a mundane explanation.

--Damon

Damon Hill writes:

wrote in
oups.com:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly

Apparently it's not even certain that anything has actually
happened; measurement and statistical error might explain it.
The New Horizons mission to flyby Pluto and explore Kuiper
Belt objects may yield new data. Or may not.

It appears we will have to wait for results. I'm betting
on a mundane explanation.

That's reasonable with such little real data available. But then there's
still the flyby anomaly which has been documented with much more crafts
and doesn't look like a systematic error at all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyby_anomaly


Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Jochem Huhmann wrote:
Damon Hill writes:

wrote in
oups.com:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly
Apparently it's not even certain that anything has actually
happened; measurement and statistical error might explain it.
The New Horizons mission to flyby Pluto and explore Kuiper
Belt objects may yield new data. Or may not.

It appears we will have to wait for results. I'm betting
on a mundane explanation.

That's reasonable with such little real data available. But then there's
still the flyby anomaly which has been documented with much more crafts
and doesn't look like a systematic error at all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyby_anomaly


Jochem


Be interesting to see results for an anti-slingshot encounter. Anyone
got a few spare mill?

Sylvia.

Jochem Huhmann wrote:
Damon Hill writes:

wrote in
oups.com:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly
Apparently it's not even certain that anything has actually
happened; measurement and statistical error might explain it.
The New Horizons mission to flyby Pluto and explore Kuiper
Belt objects may yield new data. Or may not.

It appears we will have to wait for results. I'm betting
on a mundane explanation.

That's reasonable with such little real data available. But then there's
still the flyby anomaly which has been documented with much more crafts
and doesn't look like a systematic error at all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyby_anomaly


Jochem


It doesn't appear to describe the factors that have been taken into
account. For example, did they include effects due to the tidal bulge?

Sylvia.

Sylvia Else writes:
That's reasonable with such little real data available. But then there's
still the flyby anomaly which has been documented with much more crafts
and doesn't look like a systematic error at all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyby_anomaly


Jochem


It doesn't appear to describe the factors that have been taken into
account. For example, did they include effects due to the tidal bulge?

Yes, look at http://xxx.lanl.gov/pdf/gr-qc/0604052 for details (both
ocean and solid earth tides have effects much too small to explain the
acceleration).



Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Jochem Huhmann wrote:
Sylvia Else writes:
That's reasonable with such little real data available. But then there's
still the flyby anomaly which has been documented with much more crafts
and doesn't look like a systematic error at all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyby_anomaly


Jochem

It doesn't appear to describe the factors that have been taken into
account. For example, did they include effects due to the tidal bulge?

Yes, look at http://xxx.lanl.gov/pdf/gr-qc/0604052 for details (both
ocean and solid earth tides have effects much too small to explain the
acceleration).



Jochem


Thanks for that.

Sylvia.

Something may come to light once they have completed the reanalyzis of
the Pioneer telemetry data. But as you said, it might amount to
nothing. But, maybe it does. We can only wait and see.

Cheers, Einar

Damon Hill wrote:
wrote in
oups.com:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly

Apparently it's not even certain that anything has actually
happened; measurement and statistical error might explain it.
The New Horizons mission to flyby Pluto and explore Kuiper
Belt objects may yield new data. Or may not.

It appears we will have to wait for results. I'm betting
on a mundane explanation.

--Damon