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Photon relative rest mass is important because it may play a role in particle physics and cosmology. The purpose of the present work is to show conclusively that the photon really has relative rest mass. The argument takes into account the international definition of the reference meter and the empirical value of light speed c₀ = 299792458 m/s in local vacuum, and considers the quantity c = 3 x 10⁸ m/s as a specific kinematical parameter having a constant value, with dimension speed. These considerations are combined with the Galilean relativity principle (and its Einsteinian extension), which claimed that absolute rest does not exist; i.e. that ?rest? and uniform motion have only relative character. Then with the help of the latest experiments on light speed reduction to 17 m/s, we find that the photon has relative rest mass. It is worthwhile to notice that within the framework of the formalism developed here, c₀ is only a critical speed, not an upper-limit speed like the c in standard special relativity theory.

Why do Newton?s theory of gravitation and Einstein?s general relativity not manage to explain the ap-parent anomalous deceleration of certain spacecrafts, such as Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Ulysses, Galileo, and the anomalous apsidal motion of the binary stars DI Herculis? According to the present work (Combined Gravitational Action/Combgravaction), the problem raised by this question is mainly caused by the fact that the classical and relativistic theories of gravitation are founded on the same approximate expression of the Newton?s universal law of gravitation which, in reality, is not a single force in the common classical sense, but a resultant of two forces that make between them a very small angle , especially, when the test-mass is in motion outside the gravitational source. The smallness of that angle means that the resultant force and its two components are almost in superposition.