The apparent anomalous, weak, long-range acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11

Recently the authors reported that radio Doppler data generated by NASA`s Deep Space Network (DSN) with the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft indicate an apparent anomalous, constant, spacecraft acceleration with a magnitude {approximately}8.5 {times} 10{sup {minus}8} cm s{sup {minus}2}, directed towards the Sun. Analysis of similar Doppler and ranging data from the Galileo and Ulysses spacecraft yielded ambiguous results for the anomalous acceleration, but the analysis was useful in that it ruled out the possibility of a systematic error in the DSN Doppler system that could easily be mistaken as a spacecraft acceleration. Here they present some new results, including a critique of the suggestion that the anomalous acceleration could be caused by collimated thermal emission. Based on upgraded JPL software for the Pioneer 10 orbit determination, and on a new data interval from January 1987 to July 1998, their best estimate of the average Pioneer 10 acceleration directed towards the Sun is 7.20 {sup {minus}} 0.11 {times} 10{sup {minus}8} cm s{sup {minus}2}