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**Craig Markwardt**

(Spud) writes:
Similarly, the modulated ranging signal (as opposed to Doppler) has a
finite latency through the spacecraft, which does not seem to have
been modelled. These are small errors, but when the claimed accuracy
is ~10^-10 m/s^2........

Would the acceleration towards the earth (if measured) point to a
possible acceleration of time for pioneer 10.

If so how would it be possible to confirm ?

An attempt to distinguish an acceleration towards the earth, vs. the
sun has been attempted, but was not successful, by Markwardt (2003,
gr-qc/0208046). The earth is simply too close to the sun to make the
distinction between the two.

Anderson et al in their large paper, consider possible
time-acceleration models. The time on the spacecraft is essentially
irrelevant, since it merely retransponds the signal back to the earth
without reference to absolute time.

Craig

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Craig B. Markwardt, Ph.D. EMAIL:
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