Exploring the Pioneer Anomaly: Could Heat Radiation Explain It?

In summary, the conversation revolves around the possibility of explaining the Pioneer anomaly with improved heat radiation models and the consideration of special relativity effects. The mention of a paper by Jean Paul Mbelek and the discussion of NASA's efforts to account for transverse Doppler effects are also brought up.
  • #1
S.Daedalus
221
7
The very likely explanation of the apparent Pioneer anomaly through improved heat radiation models (https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=486509".

As luck would have it, just today I stumble upon an article on improved measurements of the Earth's gravitational field by the http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/04/01/tech-earth-gravity.html". I'd imagine the differences between this new model and previous ones to be rather small, but still, could they be enough to account for the flyby energy gains?

Of course, I'm happy to hear about any and all related thoughts, as well.
 
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  • #2
S.Daedalus said:
The very likely explanation of the apparent Pioneer anomaly through improved heat radiation models (https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=486509".

As luck would have it, just today I stumble upon an article on improved measurements of the Earth's gravitational field by the http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/04/01/tech-earth-gravity.html". I'd imagine the differences between this new model and previous ones to be rather small, but still, could they be enough to account for the flyby energy gains?

Of course, I'm happy to hear about any and all related thoughts, as well.

Have you seen the paper "Special relativity may account for the spacecraft flyby anomalies" by Jean Paul Mbelek, http://arxiv.org/abs/0809.1888" [Broken]?
 
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  • #3


Jonathan Scott said:
Have you seen the paper "Special relativity may account for the spacecraft flyby anomalies" by Jean Paul Mbelek, http://arxiv.org/abs/0809.1888" [Broken]?
I'd seen the paper previously, but thanks for bringing it back to my attention. However, I was under the impression that NASA claimed that they did account for transverse Doppler effects, though I can't seem to find anything on that right now. It seems to me that this should be easy enough to settle if the paper is right, so why is there still talk about an anomaly?
 
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1. What is the Pioneer Anomaly?

The Pioneer Anomaly is a phenomenon observed in the trajectories of the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecrafts, which were launched in the 1970s to explore the outer solar system. These spacecrafts experienced a small, unexplained acceleration that deviated from the predicted trajectory.

2. What could be causing the Pioneer Anomaly?

There are several proposed explanations for the Pioneer Anomaly, including errors in the spacecrafts' thrusters, gravitational pull from nearby objects, or the spacecrafts' heat radiation. However, none of these theories fully explain the observed anomaly.

3. How could heat radiation be responsible for the Pioneer Anomaly?

One theory suggests that the heat radiation from the spacecrafts' nuclear power sources may be interacting with the surrounding space and causing a small amount of thrust. This could explain the observed acceleration, but further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.

4. What evidence supports the heat radiation theory?

Several studies have been conducted to investigate the heat radiation theory, including simulations and experiments. These studies have found that the amount of heat radiation from the Pioneer spacecrafts' power sources is consistent with the observed anomaly, but more research is needed to definitively prove this theory.

5. Why is the Pioneer Anomaly important to study?

The Pioneer Anomaly is important to study because it challenges our understanding of gravity and the laws of physics. It also has implications for future space missions, as a better understanding of the anomaly could lead to more precise calculations and predictions for spacecraft trajectories.

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