Modelling the reflective thermal contribution to the acceleration of the Pioneer spacecraft · HackerPapers discussionshttps://hackerpaper.kaipfister.de/p/1103.5222/Collected HN comments and submissions linking this paper.enMon, 02 Nov 2026 11:16:22 GMTModelling the reflective thermal contribution to the acceleration of the Pioneer spacecraft — mentioned by Jabbleshttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2391801urn:hackerpapers:mention:1103.5222:2391801Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:51:52 GMT<p>The key conclusion, with error estimates: We performed 10^4 Monte Carlo iterations, which easily ensures the convergence of the result. The thermal acceleration estimate yielded by the simulation for an instant 26 years after launch, with a 95% probability, is a(t=26) = (5.8 ± 1.3) × 10^−10 ms^-2. ... These results account for between 44% and 96% of the reported value a = (8.74 ± 1.33) × 10^−10 ms^-2 (which, we recall, was obtained under the hypothesis of a constant acceleration) — thus giving a strong indication of the preponderant contribution of thermal effects to the Pioneer anomaly.…</p><p><a href="https://hackerpaper.kaipfister.de/p/1103.5222/">Paper and discussion history</a>. A mention is not an endorsement.</p>physics.space-ph