The pioneer 10 and 11 lessons for a mission to test the pioneer anomaly.
- Slava G.
- John D.
Analysis of the radio-metric tracking data from the Pioneer 10/11 spacecraft at distances between 20-70 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun has consistently indicated the presence of an anomalous, small, constant Doppler frequency drift. The drift is a blue-shift, uniformly changing with rate a{sub t} = (2.92 {+-} 0.44) x 10{sup -18} s/s{sup 2}. It can also be interpreted as a constant acceleration of a{sub P} = (8.74 {+-} 1.33) x 10{sup -8} cm/s{sup 2} directed towards the Sun. Although it is suspected that there is a systematic origin to the effect, none has been found. As a result, the nature of this anomaly has become of growing interest. Here we discuss the details of this investigation focusing on the effects both external to and internal to the spacecraft, as well as those due to modeling and computational techniques. We review some of the mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and show their inability to account for the observed behavior of the anomaly. We also present lessons learned from this investigation for a potential deep-space experiment that will reveal the origin of the discovered anomaly and also will characterize its properties with an accuracy of at least two orders of magnitude below the anomaly's size. A number of critical requirements and design considerations for such a mission are outlined and addressed.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 977894
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-04-7073; TRN: US201012%%569
- Resource Relation:
- Journal Volume: 39; Journal Issue: 2; Conference: Submitted to: Proceedings of: Committee on Space Research, 35th Cospar Scientific Assembly, Paris, France, July 18-25, 2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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