Mysterious Force Grips Pioneer Probes...

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Something strange is tugging at America's oldest spacecraft. As the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes head towards distant stars, scientists have discovered that the craft - launched more than 30 years ago - appear to be in the grip of a mysterious force that is holding them back as they sweep out of the solar system.

The Guardian Newspaper


Pretty cool what if's in this article.... I have this vision of Kang and Kodos in a flying saucer with a tractor beam...

I'm always amazed that these Pioneer and Voyager probes are still going. And why my crappy Samsung laser printer can't last 6 months..

[CaptainCrunch]

Isn't dark matter ultradense. wouldn't it rip these craft apart as opposed to slowing them down.

Maybe its hyperstrings

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by I-Hate-Hulse@Sep 13 2004, 09:37 PM
Something strange is tugging at America's oldest spacecraft. As the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes head towards distant stars, scientists have discovered that the craft - launched more than 30 years ago - appear to be in the grip of a mysterious force that is holding them back as they sweep out of the solar system.

The Guardian Newspaper


Pretty cool what if's in this article.... I have this vision of Kang and Kodos in a flying saucer with a tractor beam...

I'm always amazed that these Pioneer and Voyager probes are still going. And why my crappy Samsung laser printer can't last 6 months..

Fascinating.

Cowperson

[Cube Inmate]

This is an amazing coincidence...

I was just reading a 25-yr-old astronomy textbook with a picture of the Pioneer plaque in it...and spent the last hour reading up on the significance of the Pioneer and Voyager plaques/records. And now you come up with a topic on Pioneer...just had to mention the amazing timing.

[the-rasta-masta]

The article talks about gas leaks being the problem potentially....My question is, how can these ships have enough gas to last for all this time?

[troutman]

I wonder if this has something to do with the Heliopause:

http://web.mit.edu/space/www/voyager/voyag...ford.suess.html

The simplest expression of the concept is that the solar wind blows a spherical bubble, the "heliosphere," that continually expands over the lifetime of the solar system. However, if there is a significant pressure in the interstellar medium, the expansion must eventually stop. The resulting quasi-static bubble is then of the order R AU where R is determined by equating the ram pressure of the solar wind to the total interstellar pressure, P (internal + dynamic + magnetic + cosmic ray pressure):

The distances to the termination shock and to the heliopause are not known.

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

In astronomy, the heliopause is the boundary where our Sun's solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium.

The solar wind blows a "bubble" in the interstellar medium (the rarefied hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the galaxy). The outer border of this "bubble" is where the solar wind's strength is no longer great enough to push back the interstellar medium. This is known as the heliopause, and is often considered to be the outer border of the solar system.

[BlackArcher101]

They lost me at "The simplest expression of the concept is that the solar wind blows a..."

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally posted by Cowperson@Sep 13 2004, 04:13 PM
Fascinating.

Pretty much sums up my feelings as well.

[Agamemnon]

Not exactly on topic, but I recall seeing a TLC show about a probe we sent out that ran on an Ion Drive. Supposedly that's the wave of the future (present) for propulsion of probes. At least, thats what TLC said

[CaramonLS]

Originally posted by the-rasta-masta@Sep 13 2004, 10:26 PM
The article talks about gas leaks being the problem potentially....My question is, how can these ships have enough gas to last for all this time?

Since there is no Friction in Space(a vacuum) all you need to do is Have one solid burn to get you going to your maximum speed and then sit back, you will continue going until the end of time unless interupted by some unknown force.

As long as you don't get pulled in by some Gravity force you will be fine (which i am sure scienctists spent months planning its trajectory so it shouldn't be a problem).

[photon]

Or plan the trajectory so that the gravity it does encounter actually helps rather than hurts (gravity assist). The probes would be nowhere near where they are today if they didn't swing around Jupiter and/or Saturn (can't remember) and steal a bit of energy to slingshot themselves even faster.

http://homepage.smc.edu/balm_simon/images/...yager_flyby.gif

The Ion drives are very cool, they require no propellants only solar panels (or a nuclear reactor or something).. but the amount of thrust they put out is so small it requires a loooong time to accelerate (think piece of paper sitting on your hand amount of thrust). Great for getting around the solar system though, as long as you have time on your side.

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by photon@Sep 14 2004, 02:02 AM


The Ion drives are very cool, they require no propellants only solar panels (or a nuclear reactor or something).. but the amount of thrust they put out is so small it requires a loooong time to accelerate (think piece of paper sitting on your hand amount of thrust). Great for getting around the solar system though, as long as you have time on your side.

An interesting site discussing various propulsion systems.

http://www.thespacesite.com/space/future/electric.php

Cowperson