# Testing the strong equivalence principle with Mars ranging data

 Redirect: RIT Scholars content from RIT Digital Media Library has moved from http://ritdml.rit.edu/handle/1850/2113 to RIT Scholar Works http://scholarworks.rit.edu/other/159, please update your feeds & links! Title: Testing the strong equivalence principle with Mars ranging data Author: Anderson, John; Gross, Mark; Lau, Eunice; Nordtvedt, Kenneth; Turyshev, Slava Abstract: The year 1996 will mark the initiation of a number of new space missions to the planet Mars from which we expect to obtain a rich set of data, including spacecraft radio tracking data. Anticipating these events, we have analyzed the feasibility of testing a violation of the strong equivalence principle (SEP) with Earth-Mars ranging. Using analytic and numerical methods, we have demonstrated that ranging data can provide a useful estimate of the SEP parameter $\eta$. Two estimates of the predicted accuracy are quoted, one based on conventional covariance analysis, and the other based on modified worst case'' analysis, which assumes that systematic errors dominate the experiment. If future Mars missions provide ranging measurements with an accuracy of $\sigma$ meters, after ten years of ranging the expected accuracy for the parameter $\eta$ will be of order $\sigma_\eta\approx (1-12)\times 10^{-4}\sigma$. In addition, these ranging measurements will provide a significantly improved determination of the mass of the Jupiter system, independent of the test of the {\small SEP} polarization effect. (Refer to PDF file for exact formulas.) Description: "Testing the Strong Equivalence Principle with Mars Ranging Data," Proceedings of the Second William Fairbank Conference. Held at Hong Kong Polytechnic: Hong Kong: 13-16 December 1993. AND also archived at: arXiv:astro-ph/9510157 v1 31 Oct 1995 Record URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1850/2113 Date: 1993-12-13

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