Pioneer Anomaly as a Mass Accretion Phenomenon

Abstract

We consider a possible scenario that we strongly believe has never been considered before in the quest to understand the origins of the Pioneer Anomaly (PA). If our investigation is anything to go by, then, perhaps we have made an omission in our application of Newton’s second to the spacecrafts. That is – in the region 20−70AU (and perhaps beyond), there may very well be an Interplanetary Medium (IPM) through which the spacecrafts accrete mass as they swim through it. If this simple idea is correct description of physical and natural reality, then, we find that the accretion rate of the spacecrafts required to account for the PA is ~ 6.00 × 10-4kgyr-1. Additionally, we find that in-order to explain the non-existence of the PA in the region (0−20AU), the IPMmust have an opacity that is two orders of magnitude larger than the average Interstellar Medium (ISM). In the perhaps very narrow margin of the likelihood that the our suggested idea has anything at all to do with reality, then, the present findings suggest that opacity – which is a frequency dependent quantity – may very well have a density dependence as well.