Anomalous orbital-energy changes observed during spacecraft flybys of earth.
We report and characterize anomalous orbital-energy changes observed during six Earth flybys by the Galileo, NEAR, Cassini, Rosetta, and MESSENGER spacecraft. These anomalous energy changes are consistent with an empirical prediction formula which is proportional to the total orbital energy per unit mass and which involves the incoming and outgoing geocentric latitudes of the asymptotic spacecraft velocity vectors. We use this formula to predict a potentially detectable flyby velocity increase of less than 1 mm/s for a second Rosetta flyby on November 13, 2007.
Anderson
John D
JD
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
Campbell
James K
JK
Ekelund
John E
JE
Ellis
Jordan
J
Jordan
James F
JF