Gravity field of Jupiter and its satellite from Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 tracking data

Null, G. W.

doi:10.1086/111999

Cited by 61 publications

(40 citation statements)

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“…Also, there is an upper limit to the charge that a spacecraft can hold. For the Pioneers that limit produced an upper bound on the Lorentz acceleration at closest approach to Jupiter of 20 × 10 −8 cm/s 2 [87]. With the interplanetary field being so much lower than at Jupiter, we conclude that the electro-magnetic force on the Pioneer spacecraft in the outer solar system is at worst on the order of 10 −12 cm/s 2 , completely negligible [94].…”

Section: Electro-magnetic Lorentz Forcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Study of the anomalous acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11

et al. 2002

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Our previous analyses of radio Doppler and ranging data from distant spacecraft in the solar system indicated that an apparent anomalous acceleration is acting on Pioneer 10 and 11, with a magnitude aP ∼ 8 × 10 −8 cm/s 2 , directed towards the Sun. Much effort has been expended looking for possible systematic origins of the residuals, but none has been found. A detailed investigation of effects both external to and internal to the spacecraft, as well as those due to modeling and computational techniques, is provided. We also discuss the methods, theoretical models, and experimental techniques used to detect and study small forces acting on interplanetary spacecraft. These include the methods of radio Doppler data collection, data editing, and data reduction.There is now further data for the Pioneer 10 orbit determination.

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Section: Electro-magnetic Lorentz Forcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(For a summary see Milani et al [57].) With regard to the specific Pioneer spacecraft, possible sources of systematic acceleration have been discussed before for Pioneer 10 and 11 at Jupiter [87] and Pioneer 11 at Saturn [67].…”

Section: Sources Of Systematic Error External To the Spacecraftmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of the anomalous acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11

et al. 2002

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“…This was due to a combination of many factors, including their attitude control (spin-stabilized, with a minimum number of attitude correction maneuvers using thrusters), power design (the plutonium-238 powered heat-source RTGs -Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators -being on extended booms aided the stability of craft and also reduced thermal effects on the craft), and precise Doppler tracking (with the accuracy of post-fit Doppler residuals at the level of mHz). The result was the most precise navigation in deep space to date (Null, 1976). (See Because of the excellent health and navigational capabilities of Pioneer 10, NASA supported a proposal to initiate search for unmodeled accelerations in 1979 (when the spacecraft was at a distance of some 20 AU from the Sun).…”

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confidence: 99%

A Study of the Pioneer Anomaly: New Data and Objectives for New Investigation

Turyshev

Toth²,

Kellogg

et al. 2006

Int. J. Mod. Phys. D

132

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The Pioneer 10/11 spacecraft yielded the most precise navigation in deep space to date. However, their radiometric tracking data has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, Doppler frequency drift. The drift is a blue shift, uniformly changing with a rate of ∼ 6 × 10 −9 Hz/s and can be interpreted as a constant sunward acceleration of each particular spacecraft of aP = (8.74 ± 1.33) × 10 −10 m/s 2 (or, alternatively, a time acceleration of at = (2.92 ± 0.44) × 10 −18 s/s 2 ). This signal has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. We discuss the current state of the efforts to retrieve the entire data sets of the Pioneer 10 and 11 radiometric Doppler data. We also report on the availability of recently recovered telemetry files that may be used to reconstruct the engineering history of both spacecraft using original project documentation and newly developed software tools. We discuss possible ways to further investigate the discovered effect using these telemetry files in conjunction with the analysis of the much extended Pioneer Doppler data.In preparation for this new upcoming investigation, we summarize the current knowledge of the Pioneer anomaly and review some of the mechanisms proposed for its explanation. We emphasize the main objectives of this new study, namely i) analysis of the early data that could yield the true direction of the anomaly and thus, its origin, ii) analysis of planetary encounters, that should tell more about the onset of the anomaly (e.g. Pioneer 11's Saturn flyby), iii) analysis of the entire dataset, that should lead to a better determination of the temporal behavior of the anomaly, iv) comparative analysis of individual anomalous accelerations for the two Pioneers with the data taken from similar heliocentric distances, v) the detailed study of on-board systematics, and vi) development of a thermal-electric-dynamical model using on-board telemetry. The outlined strategy may allow for a higher accuracy solution for the anomalous acceleration of the Pioneer spacecraft and, possibly, will lead to an unambiguous determination of the origin of the Pioneer anomaly.

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“…GM J is known from orbital dynamics to greater accuracy while the Jovian mass M J represents a derived parameter. According to the Pioneer 11 data which give (GM J ) P 11 = (12668667 ± 324) × 10 9 m 3 s −2 (Null 1976) together with a modern value for the gravitational constant G = (6.674215 ± 0.000092) × 10 −11 m 3 kg −1 s −2 (Gundlach & Merkowitz 2000), we obtain M J = (GM J ) P 11 /G = 1.8983 × 10 27 kg. At present, only the first three zonal gravitational coefficients are accurately measured (Jacobson, JUP230 orbit solution, http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/JUNO/kernels/ spk/jup230.bsp.lbl (2003)) but the Juno spacecraft (Bolton 2005) will perform high-precision measurements up to n = 12.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

EQUATORIAL ZONAL JETS AND JUPITER's GRAVITY

Kong

Liao

Zhang

et al. 2014

ApJ

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The depth of penetration of Jupiter's zonal winds into the planet's interior is unknown. A possible way to determine the depth is to measure the effects of the winds on the planet's high-order zonal gravitational coefficients, a task to be undertaken by the Juno spacecraft. It is shown here that the equatorial winds alone largely determine these coefficients which are nearly independent of the depth of the non-equatorial winds.

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Gravity field of Jupiter and its satellite from Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 tracking data

Cited by 61 publications

References 0 publications

Study of the anomalous acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11

Study of the anomalous acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11

A Study of the Pioneer Anomaly: New Data and Objectives for New Investigation

EQUATORIAL ZONAL JETS AND JUPITER's GRAVITY

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