Related papers: The Energy Transfer Process in Planetary Flybys
In March 2008 anomalous behavior in spacecraft flybys of Earth was reported in Physical Review Letters, Volume 100, Issue 9, March 7, 2008, in an article entitled "Anomalous Orbital-Energy Changes Observed during Spacecraft Flybys of…
Data of six flybys, those of Galileo I, Galileo II, NEAR, Cassini, Rosetta and Messenger were reported by Anderson et al \citep{Anderson}. Four of them: Galileo I, NEAR, Rosetta and Messenger gain Newtonian energy during the flyby transfer,…
Close planetary flybys are frequently employed as a technique to place spacecraft on extreme solar system trajectories that would otherwise require much larger booster vehicles or may not even be feasible when relying solely on chemical…
The flyby anomaly is a persistent riddle in astrodynamics. Orbital analysis in several flybys of the Earth since the Galileo spacecraft flyby of the Earth in 1990 have shown that the asymptotic post-encounter velocity exhibits a difference…
A collection is made of presently unexplained phenomena within our Solar system and in the universe. These phenomena are (i) the Pioneer anomaly, (ii) the flyby anomaly, (iii) the increase of the Astronomical Unit, (iv) the quadrupole and…
We investigate the response of a circumstellar accretion disc to the fly-by of a perturbing mass on a parabolic orbit. The energy and angular momentum transferred during the encounter are calculated using a reduced three-body method. In…
In the last decades there have been an increasing interest in improving the accuracy of spacecraft navigation and trajectory data. In the course of this plan some anomalies have been found that cannot, in principle, be explained in the…
The effect of the expanding universe on planetary motion is considered to first order in the Hubble constant H. Orbital elements are shown to be unaffected, but there is a small change in the connection between planetary proper time and…
In a reference frame fixed to the solar system's center of mass, a satellite's energy will change as it is deflected by a planet. But a number of satellites flying by Earth have also experienced energy changes in the Earth-centered frame --…
This treatise outlines how a non-systematic based Pioneer anomaly, with its implied violation (re: 'low' mass bodies only) of both general relativity's weak equivalence principle and the Newtonian inverse-square law, can be successfully…
We present a methodology based on point-like Lambertian sources that enables one to perform a reliable and comprehensive estimate of the overall thermally induced acceleration of the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. We show, by developing a…
A methodology based on point-like sources is discussed, enabling a reliable estimate of the acceleration of the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes caused by thermal effects. A sensitivity analysis of the several parameters of the model allows for a…
In this work we take a critical look at the available data on the flyby anomaly and on the current limitations of attempts to develop an explanation. We aim to verify how conservative corrections to gravity could affect the hyperbolic…
Doppler shift observations of spacecraft, such as Galileo, NEAR, Cassini, Rosetta and MESSENGER in earth flybys, have all revealed unexplained speed `anomalies' - that the doppler-shift determined speeds are inconsistent with expected…
The trajectories of test particles moving in the gravitational field of a non-spherically symmetric mass distribution become affected by the presence of multipole moments. In the case of hyperbolic trajectories, the quadrupole moment of an…
The so-called flyby anomaly is a yet unexplainable velocity jump measured at several Earth flybys of spacecraft. Known physical effects could be excluded as source of this anomaly. In order to model a possible new physical effect, empirical…
The flyby anomalies are unexplained velocity jumps of 3.9, -4.6, 13.5, -2, 1.8 and 0.02 mm/s observed near closest approach during the Earth flybys of six spacecraft. These flybys are modelled here using a theory that assumes that inertia…
The Doppler-tracking data of the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft show an unmodelled constant acceleration in the direction of the inner Solar System. An overview of the phenomenon, commonly dubbed the Pioneer anomaly, is given and the…
The flyby anomaly is the unexpected variation of the asymptotic post-encounter velocity of a spacecraft with respect to the pre-encounter velocity as it performs a slingshot manoeuvre. This effect has been detected in, at least, six flybys…
In this study, we demonstrate that the flyby anomaly, an unexpected acceleration detected in some of the gravitational assists of the Galileo, NEAR, Cassini and Rosetta spacecraft, could be probed by accurate orbital tracking available in…