Indication, from Pioneer 10/11, Galileo, and Ulysses Data, of an Apparent Anomalous, Weak, Long-Range Acceleration

John D. Anderson; Philip A. Laing; Eunice L. Lau; Anthony S. Liu; Michael Martin Nieto; Slava G. Turyshev

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.2858

Indication, from Pioneer 10/11, Galileo, and Ulysses Data, of an Apparent Anomalous, Weak, Long-Range Acceleration

John D. Anderson, Philip A. Laing, Eunice L. Lau, Anthony S. Liu, Michael Martin Nieto, and Slava G. Turyshev

Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 2858 – Published 5 October 1998

Abstract

Radio metric data from the Pioneer 10/11, Galileo, and Ulysses spacecraft indicate an apparent anomalous, constant, acceleration acting on the spacecraft with a magnitude $\sim 8.5 \times 10^{- 8} cm / s^{2}$ , directed towards the Sun. Two independent codes and physical strategies have been used to analyze the data. A number of potential causes have been ruled out. We discuss future kinematic tests and possible origins of the signal.

Received 10 June 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.2858

Authors & Affiliations

John D. Anderson^1,*, Philip A. Laing^2,†, Eunice L. Lau^1,‡, Anthony S. Liu^3,§, Michael Martin Nieto^4,∥, and Slava G. Turyshev^1,¶

¹Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109
²The Aerospace Corporation, 2350 E. El Segundo Boulevard, El Segundo, California 90245-4691
³Astrodynamic Sciences, 2393 Silver Ridge Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90039
⁴Theoretical Division (MS-B285), Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of California, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545

^*Electronic address: john.d.anderson@jpl.nasa.gov
^†Electronic address: Philip.A.Laing@aero.org
^‡Electronic address: eunice@helen.jpl.nasa.gov
^§Electronic address: SZLiu@aol.com
^∥Electronic address: mmn@pion.lanl.gov
^¶Electronic address: sgt@zeus.jpl.nasa.gov