One-way Speed of Light Using Interplanetary Tracking Technology

Abstract

Light transmission in the Sun-Centered Inertial (SCI) frame is considered within a flat space-time metric of relativity theory. It is shown that this metric which is used to derive the Langevin metric that generates the accurate clock synchronization algorithm used in the Global Positioning System (GPS), also predicts one-way light speed anisotropy in an inertial frame that contradicts the principle of light speed constancy. This finding is tested and confirmed in the SCI frame using the range equations employed in the tracking of planets and spacecrafts moving within our solar system. These equations are based on the observation that light travels in the SCI frame at a constant speed c and have been extensively tested and rigorously verified. The results suggest a modification of the Lorentz Transformations that yields new transformations that are consistent with the observed light speed anisotropy and which better accord with the physical world.