The world of gravity has not been totally explained. Here's an article covering a pheomenon known as the Pioneer Anomaly. In a nutshell, the 2 Pioneer craft launched in 1972 and 1973 should be a certain distance away. However it appears they have decelerated just enough to make people wonder why. In other words, the 2 craft have not travelled as far as they should have, given the gravitational computations of which we are aware.
The Pioneer anomaly was discovered by John Anderson, also of JPL, in the 1980s. For years he didn't publish what he'd noticed. Then he discussed it with physicist Michael Martin Nieto at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Nieto says he "almost fell off my chair."
Nieto jumped into the investigation, and thetwo were later joined by Turyshev. They dug deeper into the data, even tracking down retired NASA scientists for some of it. Unraveling the enigma will require a new mission, the researchers say. NASA, however, doesn't have such a project on its agenda and has not expressed much interest in one. Europeans, for reasons both historic and having to do with a current strong desire to better grasp gravity, seem more interested in investigating the problem.
So Anderson's team recently proposed to the European Space Agency a "mission to
explore the Pioneer anomaly" using the latest accelerometers and advanced navigation methods. All possible sources of onboard radiation would be eliminated in "the most precisely tracked spacecraft ever to go into deep space," the group writes in the September issue of Physics World magazine.
Don't miss it. It's very, very interesting.
STS 114 - Back to The Shuttle Grind
As reported previously, the shuttle crew are rehearsing for a docking manoeuvre with the ISS. All indications are that the shuttle fleet is going to be back to work soon.
"The fact that we're able to do these simulations now shows that many of the
milestones for return to flight have been completed," said STS-114 mission specialist Andrew Thomas. "We're getting the rhythm of flying the shuttle again and that's kind of a nice feeling to have."The Oct. 13 full-scale simulation began on Day Three of Discovery's STS-114 flight plan, starting just after the wake-up call for mission commander Eileen Collins and her crew. The mock shuttle-ISS mission ran through the Day Three timeline until about an hour after ISS docking.
"This integrated simulation is a huge milestone for the crew," Collins said. "The crew is ready to go, the flight control team is ready to go, and we're especially looking forward to the rendezvous pitch maneuver -- something that's never been done before."
I guess if we totally gave up on the shuttle now, it's like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but I can't in all good conscience say it's a good project. What happens when a third bird and ASA (Another Seven Astronauts) go up in flames? These things simply aren't safe.
The Good College Try
The Da Vinci project folks are trying to launch their craft that was originally intended for the Ansari X prize.
Feeney, who will pilot Wild Fire's initial flight, has told SPACE.com his team remains determined to launch despite losing the $10 million Ansari X Prize suborbital spaceflight competition. That contest, which challenged teams to privately build a reusable, three-person suborbital spacecraft, was won on Oct. 4 in Mojave, California by Burt Rutan and his SpaceShipOne launch vehicle.
But Feeney has also said a final launch date won't be announced until the da Vinci team has completely arrived in Kindersley, which is expected to be at least seven days before the intended space shot.
Under the current flight plan, an unmanned helium balloon will hoist Wild Fire into the Kindersley sky from the town's local airport, carrying it into launch position at about 80,000 feet. There, the spacecraft's tether will be released and its hybrid rocket engine ignited. The spacecraft and Feeney should experience a few minutes of weightless before reentering the atmosphere and parachuting back to Earth.
It's good to see they haven't stopped just because they didn't win.
- Art Neuro
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