[X] My Assistant

[As old as Voyage...]

Very interesting story on SPACE.com regarding currently unexplained anomalies in the velocities of spacecraft after their Earth flybys.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0802...ft-anomaly.html

Perhaps the twisting of spacetime induced by Earth's rotation could be gently altering the spacecraft's velocity.

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/200...FTOKEN=51791561

In any case its pretty cool to have an unexplained force meddling with our best laid plans.

[nprev]

Mmm...don't forget that the gravitational constant G is the least precisely known of all the physical constants, and it's a direct coefficient for many trajectory calculations. I suspect that part of the answer lies in this uncertainty.

If anyone were to undertake a serious investigation of these anomalies, I'd suggest a very precisely balanced spin-stabilized vehicle (with operational mass known to the highest degree possible), minimal outgassing, and almost nothing ancillary but the basic bus functions needed to keep it stable & relay data that would do a high-perigee (to negate drag effects) Molinya style Earth orbit with supporting tracking.

Think we're really getting very deep into the weeds here; statistical uncertainties seem like the most probable causes for these observed effects.