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Pioneer Anomaly Solved
First time accepted submitter gstrickler writes "After years of work recovering and analyzing old mission data and vehicle schematics, a just published analysis(Pdf) provides strong evidence for anisotropic thermal radiation being the source of the slowing of the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. The theory isn't new, but the recovered data and new analysis provide solid evidence that at least 80% of the deceleration is accounted for by anisotropic thermal radiation. Members of The Planetary Society were instrumental in recovering the data and helping fund the analysis. The lesson is, in space, it matters what direction your heat radiating surfaces point."
I'm thinking pointing your heat dissipating surfaces directly towards the sun might decrease the efficiency of said heat dissipation.
(Obviously this becomes less of a concern the farther from the sun you are)
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
Could one compromise and put the radiators perpendicular to the direction of the sun (and travel?) eg, not on the front or back, but on the sides? Provided you did so equally, any force resulting in their radiation should cancel itself out.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
100% certainty exists only in a fictional version of science.
They showed that the residual 20% is not statistically significant. This is a showing that there is no additional anomaly to be accounted for. This is what is called "solving a problem" in real science.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
[...]and they might have other reasons for orienting the craft a certain way -- maybe to maximize cooling.
One end of the spacecraft is a big-ass radio dish, and the orientation is determined by pointing that dish at the Earth so that we can communicate with it.
The "speed" of the Pioneer craft is usually referenced to the Sun and it's orbit