For those who like mysteries, a pointer to a Dec 21st article in the Los Angeles Times entitled “Gravity May Lose Its Pull“.
The article discusses the so-called “Pioneer Anomaly“, which refers to the fact that nobody knows why the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, which has travelled 7.98 billion miles since it was launched on March 2nd, 1972, is now 248,000 miles off-course, and is slowing down at a rate of about 8,000 miles a year.
For those who want more details, following is a link to a 54-page PDF file entitled “Study of the anomalous acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11“, published on July 9th, 2004, reviewing some of the potential explanations for this phenomenon. They conclude with the words “Currently, we find no mechanism or theory that explains the anomalous acceleration.”
And here is the Pioneer Home Page.
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