Pioneer 10’s slow down solved

Remember the Pioneer anomaly? This was the unexplained slow-down of Pioneer 10 (and Ulysses apparently) that was causing folks to conclude there was a trans-Neptunian planet or some sort of unknown electromagnetic effect that we didn’t understand. Turns out the answer is a little more ordinary – the slow down is caused by radiation of waste heat from the spacecraft’s power generators. [via 2012]

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