Authors: Rodney Bartlett
The question and answer about spacecraft flybys (Astronomy magazine’s “AskAstro” section - August 2014) got me thinking about the Pioneer anomaly - a slight slowdown in the predicted positions of the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft noticed when they entered the outer solar system. After their billions of miles of travel, the Pioneer spacecraft are some 3,000 miles short of their predicted locations. If they were now carrying an infinitesimal extra mass due to m=E/c^2, this could account for the shortfall. I propose electromagnetic energy from the RTG (radioisotope thermo-electric generator) powering each craft is insufficient to be relativistically converted into enough mass, and suggest energy in the form of gravitational waves that are diverted towards the Sun's mass would convert into the mass causing the Pioneer anomaly. As the end of this short article states, “Though it’s possible that high-frequency electromagnetic waves like X-rays or gamma rays, as well as the subatomic particles in cosmic rays, might contribute to Pioneer’s extra mass; a gravitational cause is not invalidated since both matter and electromagnetism have their origins in gravitation“ (this is explained).
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