A Mission to Test the Pioneer Anomaly

TL;DR

This paper discusses the analysis of Pioneer spacecraft data revealing an unexplained small acceleration towards the Sun, and proposes a dedicated mission to investigate this anomaly further.

Contribution

It introduces a mission concept specifically designed to test the Pioneer anomaly, outlining key requirements and design considerations.

Findings

Detection of a consistent anomalous acceleration towards the Sun

No systematic explanation identified for the anomaly

Proposed mission aims to clarify the anomaly's origin

Abstract

Analysis of the radio tracking data from the Pioneer 10/11 spacecraft has consistently indicated the presence of an anomalous small Doppler frequency drift. The drift can be interpreted as being due to a constant acceleration of a_P= (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-8} cm/s^2 directed towards the Sun. Although it is suspected that there is a systematic origin to the effect, none has been found. The nature of this anomaly has become of growing interest in the fields of relativistic cosmology, astro- and gravitational physics as well as in the areas of spacecraft design and high-precision navigation. We present a concept for a designated deep-space mission to test the discovered anomaly. A number of critical requirements and design considerations for such a mission are outlined and addressed.