dear friends,
http://www.space.com/scienceastronom...t-anomaly.html
be well, be love.
david
nasa baffled by unexplained force acting on space probes
by charles q. choi
special to space.com
posted: 29 february 2008
11:17 am et
mysteriously, five spacecraft that flew past the earth have each displayed unexpected anomalies in their motions.
these newfound enigmas join the so-called "pioneer anomaly" as hints that unexplained forces may appear to act on spacecraft.
a decade ago, after rigorous analyses, anomalies were seen with the identical pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft as they hurtled out of the solar system. both seemed to experience a tiny but unexplained constant acceleration toward the sun.
a host of explanations have been bandied about for the pioneer anomaly. at times these are rooted in conventional science — perhaps leaks from the spacecraft have affected their trajectories. at times these are rooted in more speculative physics — maybe the law of gravity itself needs to be modified.
now jet propulsion laboratory astronomer john anderson and his colleagues — who originally helped uncover the pioneer anomaly — have discovered that five spacecraft each raced either a tiny bit faster or slower than expected when they flew past the earth en route to other parts of the solar system.



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