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Gravity, Working As Usual

A new paper presents a possible solution to the Pioneer Anomaly, linked to unexpected Sun-ward accelerations in Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft.

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I am in absolutely no position to judge the technical execution of this work, but a group has posted a possible solution to the "Pioneer Anomaly" on the Physics/Astronomy ArXiV server (http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/1103.5222). For those who haven't been following along at home, there appear to be subtle unexpected Sun-ward accelerations (i.e. higher than expected decelerations) seen in the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft while leaving the Solar System. Sean posted an earlier discussion of the anomaly and a possible reported solution that does not involve modifying gravity. However, this latest paper is by a different group, and posits that reflections within the spacecraft are enough to explain the discrepancies. There's a nicer write-up than this one at the Technology Review Physics ArXiV blog. FYI, it was posted a few days ago, and is not an April Fool's posting. Also FYI, my kids just got passports, and did you know that there's ...

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