hey quick question. How the FUCK do you fall out of orbit of the SUN???
(I THINK, this is like Rocket Science and stuff and like I REALLY don’t know) If you (e v e n t u a l l y), get tugged by the planets into a wider and wider orbit until it can get pulled into, e.g., Mercury’s orbit, then get a gravity-slingshot boost from that, and so on from other planets (Jupiter is a favorite for that) into an intersteller trajectory.
In short, by getting really fricking lucky.
(~!~I THINK~!~)
Pioneer 9’s orbit had an apoapsis just inside the orbit of Earth and a periapsis just outside the orbit of Venus, and wasn’t inclined much relative to the solar plane. In short, it orbited pretty much just like Earth does.
Andromeda isn’t really in that plane.
That means that not only did Nine get a boost to galactic escape velocity, Nine’s orbit changed planes. In typical spaceflight, plane change maneuvers are really expensive in energy expended. But compared to achieving the local galactic escape velocity of roughly 537 km/s, they’re pretty cheap.
Pioneer had no maneuvering fuel, nor an engine to burn it with.
When Pioneer went offline in May 1983, I’m willing to bet a day’s convention time in a Nine cosplay* that Nine wasn’t near any object large enough to give it that gravitational slingshot.
That means it got pulled or it got pushed, and getting pushed by being hit with something seems most likely.
What we need to disprove the gravitational-slingshot encounter:
orbital locations of Earth, Venus, and Pioneer 9 during May of 1983
actual date of last transmission received from Pioneer 9
actual date of last transmission attempt to/from Pioneer 9
an orrey that will display Nine’s location at those times.
Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It
