Showing posts with label Pioneer Anomaly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pioneer Anomaly. Show all posts

Saturday, July 27, 2013

The Pioneer Detectives

Viktor Toth mentioned at his blog site a new eBook by Konstantin Kakaes about the Pioneer Anomaly.
Please excuse the plug for the book.

After reading Viktor's comments I had it down loaded to my Toshiba AT 300 Android tablet and had an enjoyable read with a free Kindle reader..
It brought back a lot of memories about the Pioneer 10 and 11 missions and conversations with Viktor Toth.
I must admit a surprise to see my name mentioned in print.  

Do read what Viktor has to say and some of the reviews at Amazon.com.
The story behind the story, told in an entertaining way, may interest you as well.
- LRK -

Viktor's blog
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I spent a part of yesterday afternoon speed-reading Konstantin Kakaes’s new e-book, The Pioneer Detectives. It’s a short book (still well worth the $2.99 Kindle price) but it reads very well and presents a fair picture of our efforts researching the origin of the anomalous acceleration of the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft.

Yes, I was one of those “detectives”. (In fact, I still consider myself one, as I don’t believe our job is quite done yet; we still owe the community a detailed account of our research and an update of our Pioneer Anomaly reviewbefore we can move on with a clean conscience.) So I have an insider’s view of this very intriguing story.
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The Pioneer Detectives
- LRK -

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The Pioneer Detectives
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At Amazon.com
- LRK -

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The Pioneer Detectives: Did a distant spacecraft prove Einstein and Newton wrong? (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition]

Konstantin Kakaes
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A number of reviews. A snip of one for flavor.
- LRK -

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The heroes of science are those who follow the evidence wherever it leads them. Scientists may be motivated by glory and fame, they are human after all, but the good ones are also motivated by a fundamental desire to understand. Those men working on the Pioneer Anomaly, which, if true, would upend Einstein's theory of gravity, were motivated by understanding. What force could be acting on a spacecraft that made its actual distance so much different than the distance it should be at under Einstein's theory?

"Detectives" was a great word to choose for the title. This short book reads like an unfolding mystery, and Kakaes holds the answer until the end. In doing so, you learn to appreciate the incredible amount of honest work done by the team at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (also known as the coolest place on earth) in the face of bureaucratic intransigence along with lost and fading data.

The pacing of the book is excellent, and while Kakaes expects a lot from the reader (he doesn't skip over the science, since it's the integral to understanding the issue), he's a more than capable guide and you need not have a previously strong understanding of general relativity before diving in. Still, I admire for Kakaes for trusting his audience's intelligence, which allows him to tell a story without reverting to gimmicky metaphors. For those dismayed by the current canon of science writing for general readers as too dumbed down and extrapolative, this is the book for you.

Kakaes ends with some big thoughts, ones that leave the reader thinking long after finishing.
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Thanks for looking up with me.  
- LRK -
 
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Friday, November 30, 2012

Finding the Source of the Pioneer Anomaly


Thirty years ago, the first spacecraft sent to explore the outer solar system started slowing unexpectedly. Now we finally know what happened

By VIKTOR T. TOTH, SLAVA G. TURYSHEV  /  DECEMBER 2012
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Viktor's Google+ post and Spinor.info blog alerted me to the Spectrum IEEE on line article he co-authored with Dr. Turyshev.  Having met both and played a small part in providing some data on the health of the PN10-11 spacecraft, was interested seeing what was said.  If I do say so myself, I think you will enjoy the Spectrum IEEE article.
- LRK -

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Finding the Source of the Pioneer Anomaly

Thirty years ago, the first spacecraft sent to explore the outer solar system started slowing unexpectedly. Now we finally know what happened

By VIKTOR T. TOTH, SLAVA G. TURYSHEV  /  DECEMBER 2012
Some 40 years ago, a quarter-ton lump of circuits and sensors slipped Earth’s surly bonds, sped past the moon and Mars, and hurtled toward Jupiter. The probe, Pioneer 10, and its sister ship, Pioneer 11, which followed a year later, were true trailblazers. They gave humanity its first close-up glimpses of worlds beyond the solar system’s asteroid belt. They also left behind a mystery—one that has simultaneously baffled and inspired astrophysicists for years.

Like many puzzles, this one started out with just a small hint that something was amiss. Not long after Pioneer 10 and 11 had passed beyond the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, their navigators began to notice something unexpected. Both spacecraft seemed to be slowing down more than controllers had predicted they would, as if some force were tugging them ever so subtly backward toward the sun.

The magnitude of this deceleration was minuscule, just one ten-billionth of the gravitational acceleration that we experience on Earth’s surface. Such a small effect didn’t seem out of place at first. It would have shown up as a simple correction, the sort that spacecraft navigators routinely apply to accommodate fuel leaks and other small, transient deviations in spacecraft behavior. No one would have blinked an eye if it hadn’t been for one troubling detail: For years, as the spacecraft sped deeper and deeper into space, that tiny discrepancy stuck around. And no one could figure out where it came from.
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Do read the rest of the article.

Viktor Toth's blog, Spinor Info
 - A WEB SITE ABOUT PHYSICS AND OTHER THINGS -
-LRK-

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An article we wrote with Slava Turyshev about the Pioneer anomaly and its resolution, at the request of IEEE Spectrum, is now available online.
It was an interesting experience, working with a professional science journalist and her team. I have to admit that I did not previously appreciate the level of professionalism that is behind such a “members only” magazine.
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Disclaimer: I supported the Pioneer Missions at NASA Ames Research Center with contractors for about 20 years starting back in 1983 as Pioneer 10 left the Solar System.  (A year and a half break between missions, working with Lam Research.)

Seeing TV crews zero in on a small, 11 inch, B/W monitor showing Black or White checkerboard squares representing the one's and zero's of the data on June 13, 1983 of PN10 on its way towards the Taurus constellation sort of sticks in your memory. Hearing those one's and zero's turned into two different tones made by a BASIC program on a Commodore VIC-20 for 'Sounds of Pioneer' sort helps date me. :-)

Also Viktor hosts my old,old website. The thought of having a place to re-fly the Pioneer missions was even considered, but I couldn't find the 9 days of data around PN-10's encounter with Jupiter, December 3, 1973.

My leaving Ames in 2005 and some info about the data collected.
- LRK -

Here is to looking up, maybe near, maybe far, maybe even a star.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Pioneer Anomaly, a 30-Year-Old Cosmic Mystery, May Be Resolved At Last

The year is coming to an end and still full of surprises.
- LRK -

Back in October I received an e-mail from Natalie Wolchover who was working on an article for Popular Science magazine about the Pioneer Anomaly.  We exchanged a couple of e-mails and now a pleasant surprise, it is on-line at POPSCI.  I think you will appreciate what she reports.  It is three web pages and has some Pioneer 10 and 11 images and even one of the Pioneer 10/11 Telemetry Display on my Mac Quadra 950 showing the very low signal level.
- LRK -

Enough of my feeling good about being in print.  The article is really about what Dr. Slava Turyshev and Viktor Toth have been working on and that is where the story really gets interesting.  Enjoy the read.
- LRK -
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The Pioneer Anomaly, a 30-Year-Old Cosmic Mystery, May Be Resolved At Last
http://www.popsci.com/pioneeranomaly

What is the mystery force slowing down the Pioneer spacecraft? Do we finally know the answer?
By Natalie Wolchover Posted 12.15.2010 at 11:00 am

Thirty years ago, NASA scientists noticed that two of their spacecraft, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, were veering off course slightly, as if subject to a mysterious, unknown force. In 1998, the wider scientific community got wind of that veering—termed the Pioneer anomaly—and took aim at it with incessant, mind-blowingly detailed scrutiny that has since raised it to the physics equivalent of cult status. Now, though, after spawning close to 1000 academic papers, numerous international conferences, and many entire scientific careers, this beloved cosmic mystery may be on its way out.

Slava Turyshev, a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and Viktor Toth, a Canada-based software developer, plan to publish the results of their strikingly comprehensive new analysis of the Pioneer anomaly in the next few months. Their work is likely to bring a conclusion to one of the longest and most tumultuous detective stories of modern astrophysics.
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http://www.popsci.com/pioneeranomaly?page=1
http://www.popsci.com/pioneeranomaly?page=2
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When you finish with Natalie's article you might be interested in looking at some of the comments.
Some good, some so, so.
An interesting blog about her article is found at DISCOVER Blogs/ Cosmic Variance
- LRK -

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Farewell, Pioneer Anomaly?
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2010/12/15/farewell-pioneer-anomaly/
by Sean

Here’s an excellent article in Popular Science about the Pioneer anomaly. (Via Dan Vergano on Twitter.) The Pioneer spacecraft, launched in the early 1970’s, have been moseying through the outer regions of the Solar System for quite some time now. But a careful analysis of tracking data indicated that the acceleration of the two spacecraft didn’t quite match what we’d expect from gravity; there appears to be an anomalous acceleration, nearly constant over time and pointing toward the Sun. Many new-physics explanations have been proposed, but it’s always been a difficult scenario to master; it’s very hard to imagine a new force that would account for the Pioneer data but not also show up in observations of the outer planets. (The Voyager spacecraft aren’t as useful for this purpose, as they are guided by tiny thrusters that overwhelm the signal, while the Pioneers float freely and are pointed using gyroscopes.)

The most likely explanation has always been that we didn’t completely understand the spacecraft, or the tracking system. Indeed, it’s been recognized for a while that a small imbalance in how the spacecraft radiated heat could account for the acceleration — but that imbalance didn’t seem to be supported by what we knew about the vessels. That may be changing, however. The Popular Science article is a little cagey, but it mentions a new and unprecedentedly thorough analysis by Viktor Toth and Slava Turshyev that should be coming out soon. Here is as much as they would let on:
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Even though Slava and Viktor have not published the one coming up on their definitive stand you can get all the background you need by reading their last publication.  You can read on-line or a 165 page PDF file where at the end you can look at 428 references or 427 on-line at http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2010-4/
- LRK -

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Slava G. Turyshev and Viktor T. Toth,
"The Pioneer Anomaly",
Living Rev. Relativity 13,  (2010),  4. URL (cited on 12/19/2010):
http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2010-4

or

http://arxiv.org/abs/1001.3686
The Pioneer Anomaly
(Submitted on 20 Jan 2010 (v1), last revised 19 Aug 2010 (this version, v2))

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It has been a fun ride and I have really enjoyed having played a small part in the quest for an answer to the Pioneer Anomaly.
To watch the data come in from a spacecraft that has traveled for 11 hours through space is something you don't get to do everyday.
- LRK -

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http://web.archive.org/web/20070128105511/spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNStat.html

30 YEARS FROM LAUNCH AT CAPE CANAVERAL ON MARCH 2, 2002, PIONEER 10 DATA WAS RECEIVED AT MADRID

GOLDSTONE On 1 March 2002, DSS 14 transmitted an uplink, and two no-op commands at 200 kw to the spacecraft.
MADRID
22 hours later, from 79.4 AU, DSS 63 acquired the downlink on time at -183 dbm. After peaking the signal to -178.5 dbm, they locked the telemetry at 16 bps with SNR of -0.5 db.
ARICEBO
SETI Institute also acquired the same signal at Puerto Rico. SETI has been using Pioneer 10 as a reference signal.

PIONEER SPACECRAFT CONDITIONS

Very cold with most temperature readings at the bottom of their scale. Bus voltage about 26 volts (nominal is 28). Uplink received from DSS 14 at -131.7 dbm. Two commands received, both confirmed as executed. Geiger Tube Telescope Instrument on, and data received.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070128105511/http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNimgs/lv030202.jpg  [:-)]

Project Phoenix has been observing Pioneer 10 at Arecibo in Puerto Rico through the auspices of the SETI Institute. The signal from Pioneer 10 was also picked up at Arecibo on 2 March 2002.

The last telemetered data from the University of Iowa cosmic ray instrument were as follows: 2 March 2002 (39 minutes of clean data) (r = 79.83 AU) 27 April 2002 (33 minutes of clean data) (r = 80.22 AU)

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We no longer hear from Pioneer 10 and 11.  The mission is over and the computer space has been cleared of all hardware.
Mixed emotions when you have to pull out the old cables to make way for an office space.  No more raised computer floor. :-(
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Pioneer 10 now silent. Hardware coming out. See Pictures.
http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/PioneerPic.html
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Voyagers I and II continue to transmit from deep space.
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

Well I sort of got off the topic of Natalie's article on the Pioneer Anomaly.
All I can say is, "Thanks for the memory Natalie."
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The Pioneer Anomaly in the Light of New Data

Carl Walter asked me for an update on the Pioneer Anomaly and I had to check and see if anything new was being published.
I thought I would check and see if Dr. Slava Turyshev and Viktor Toth might have something and sure enough, google found this.
[Note: Viktor hosts my web site so maybe a bit biased. - LRK -]
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The Pioneer Anomaly in the Light of New Data
Abstract
The radio-metric tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft from the distances between 20–70 astronomical units from the Sun has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted Doppler frequency drift that limited the accuracy of the orbit reconstruction for these vehicles. This drift was interpreted as a sunward acceleration of aP = (8.74±1.33)×10−10 m/s2 for each particular spacecraft. This signal has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly is still being investigated.

Recently new Pioneer 10 and 11 radio-metric Doppler and flight telemetry data became available. The newly available Doppler data set is much larger when compared to the data used in previous investigations and is the primary source for new investigation of the anomaly. In addition, the flight telemetry files, original project documentation, and newly developed software tools are now used to reconstruct the engineering history of spacecraft. With the help of this information, a thermal model of the Pioneers was developed to study possible contribution of thermal recoil force acting on the spacecraft. The goal of the ongoing efforts is to evaluate the effect of on-board systems on the spacecrafts’ trajectories and possibly identify the nature of this anomaly.

Techniques developed for the investigation of the Pioneer anomaly are applicable to the New Horizons mission. Analysis shows that anisotropic thermal radiation from on-board sources will accelerate this spacecraft by ∼41×10−10 m/s2.We discuss the lessons learned from the study of the Pioneer anomaly for the New Horizons spacecraft. Keywords Pioneer anomaly · gravitational experiments · deep-space navigation · thermal modeling.

Slava G. Turyshev
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 USA
E-mail: turyshev@jpl.nasa.gov
Viktor T. Toth
Ottawa, ON K1N 9H5, Canada
E-mail: vttoth@vttoth.com
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We haven't always had spacecraft you know.
I just finished reading a chapter from "The YOUNG FOLKS TREASURY", Vol. VIII, "WONDERS OF SCIENCE AND INVENTION", entitled "The Motor Vehicle," by Herbert T. Wade, where he talks about cars that used steam, or electricity, or even a gas-engine. Oh, I failed to mention, the books were copyright 1909, a year before my mom started her life of living through all these technological advances. :-)
[Note to myself - I can still read a hundred year old book - Wonder if my Amiga computer still works.]
I can't wait to read the next chapter, "The Flying Machine," and then "The Gyroscope and Its Applications."
Could they have even thought about Cell Phones that show pictures that rotate to match which way you hold it?
Are we having fun yet? And what will we think of when we start developing the resources of the Moon?

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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