Posted on 02/29/2008 5:48:51 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Mysteriously, five spacecraft that flew past the Earth have each displayed unexpected anomalies in their motions.
These newfound enigmas join the so-called "Pioneer anomaly" as hints that unexplained forces may appear to act on spacecraft.
A decade ago, after rigorous analyses, anomalies were seen with the identical Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft as they hurtled out of the solar system. Both seemed to experience a tiny but unexplained constant acceleration toward the sun.
A host of explanations have been bandied about for the Pioneer anomaly. At times these are rooted in conventional science — perhaps leaks from the spacecraft have affected their trajectories. At times these are rooted in more speculative physics — maybe the law of gravity itself needs to be modified.
Now Jet Propulsion Laboratory astronomer John Anderson and his colleagues — who originally helped uncover the Pioneer anomaly — have discovered that five spacecraft each raced either a tiny bit faster or slower than expected when they flew past the Earth en route to other parts of the solar system.
'Humble and perplexed'
The researchers looked at six deep-space probes — Galileo I and II to Jupiter, the NEAR mission to the asteroid Eros, the Rosetta probe to a comet, Cassini to Saturn, and the MESSENGER craft to Mercury. Each spacecraft flew past the our planet to either gain or lose orbital energy in their quests to reach their eventual targets.
In five of the six flybys, the scientists have confirmed anomalies.
"I am feeling both humble and perplexed by this," said Anderson, who is now working as a retiree. "There is something very strange going on with spacecraft motions. We have no convincing explanation for either the Pioneer anomaly or the flyby anomaly."
In the one probe the researchers did not confirm a noticeable anomaly with, MESSENGER, the spacecraft approached the Earth at about latitude 31 degrees north and receded from the Earth at about latitude 32 degrees south. "This near-perfect symmetry about the equator seemed to result in a very small velocity change, in contrast to the five other flybys," Anderson explained — so small no anomaly could be confirmed.
The five other flybys involved flights whose incoming and outgoing trajectories were asymmetrical with each other in terms of their orientation with Earth's equator.
For instance, the NEAR mission approached Earth at about latitude 20 south and receded from the planet at about latitude 72 south. The spacecraft then seemed to fly 13 millimeters per second faster than expected. While this is just one-millionth of that probe's total velocity, the precision of the velocity measurements was 0.1 millimeters per second, carried out as they were using radio waves bounced off the craft. This suggests the anomaly seen is real — and one needing an explanation.
The fact this effect seems most evident with flybys most asymmetrical with respect to Earth's equator "suggests that the anomaly is related to Earth's rotation," Anderson said.
As to whether these new anomalies are linked with the Pioneer anomaly, "I would be very surprised if we have discovered two independent spacecraft anomalies," Anderson told SPACE.com. "I suspect they are connected, but I really do not know."
Unbound idea
These anomalies might be effects we see with an object possessing a spacecraft's mass, between 660 and 2,200 lbs. (300 and 1,000 kg), Anderson speculated.
"Another thing in common between the Pioneer and these flybys is what you would call an unbound orbit around a central body," Anderson said. "For instance, the Pioneers are flying out of the solar system — they're not bound to their central body, the sun. For the other flybys, the Earth is the central body. These kinds of orbits just don't occur very often in nature — it could be when you get into an unbound orbit around a central body, something goes on that's not in our standard models."
The researchers are now collaborating with German colleagues to search for possible anomalies in the Rosetta probe's second flyby of the Earth on November 13.
"We should continue to monitor spacecraft during Earth flybys. We should look carefully at newly recovered Pioneer data for more evidence of the Pioneer anomaly," Anderson added. "We should think about launching a dedicated mission on an escape trajectory from the solar system, just to look for anomalies in its motion."
Montana State University physicist Ronald Hellings, who did not participate in this study, said, "There's definitely something going on. Whether that's because of new physics or some problem with the model we have is yet to be worked out, as far as I know. A lot of people are trying to look into this."
Anderson and his colleagues will detail their latest findings in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.
Vertically curved spacetime or we have a micro blackhole orbiting Earth?
According to the link, "the rotation of an object would alter space and time, dragging a nearby object out of position compared to the predictions of Newtonian physics. The predicted effect is incredibly small — about one part in a few trillion."
That "one part in a few trillion" is roughly the same order as some of the perturbation effects that have a meaningful effect on satellite trajectories....
My thought, too....
Tractor Beams?
Well, global warming explains every other thing that happens in the universe, so let’s just lump this in as well.
Has anybody ever considered that the current induced in the metallic spacecraft, which acts like a micro henry inductor?
For the sake of simplicity (for discussion purposes) The magnetic field of the earth is torroidically shaped. Flux lines run from pole to pole. @ the equater, flux lines are 90 Deg. perpendicular to the poles. As the craft traverses through the magnetic field, A voltage is induced end to end on the body of the craft, . [ (v) = (L) (di/dt) ] . A magnetic field then surrounds the craft. The shift is 90 deg. to the ecliptic. In neutral (electrical) polarity , @ 90 deg. , there is zero magnetic repulsion or repelling force. Thus the calculated velocity is dependent solely upon gravitational law, and is compliant with newtonian theory. These craft are usually ballistic , ( rotation around a gravity neutral center). Therefore , If the craft traverses the gravitational field of the planet at any angle relative to the magnetic poles other than 90 deg. ,
( north to south , or south to north ) , The magnetic fields of the earth vs the field of the craft are no longer polarity neutral ( rotational axis of craft vs rotational axis of the planet ). When this happens , the mass of the craft acts as a dynamo core , and the circulating current heats the craft. ( induction ) . The rotational axis of the craft is perturbed , and it extracts energy from the magnetic field of the earth. All this results in a very slight magnetic attraction , or repulsion , Depending upon the angle of the atmospheric “ cut “ , calcuably compliant with the sine of the angle ( X ) L (spacecraft Inductance equivelant) (X) (DI/DT). Attraction or repulsion is determined by the polarity of the orbital cut , which determines whether it is a neg. or pos. DI/DT interger.
The magnetic “drag” is the result of induction principle
at work. AND THEN , Since the craft rotates on an axis , and likewise the planet , the intermingling lines of thier respective flux lines cutting through each other at angles,
there is the standard force applied to each others mass ,
which manifests itself in a physical push - pull contest.
Force dependant upon angle , field strength , coupling coefficient , and mass. (relative). Push or pull dependant upon the polarity of the DI/DT interger’s polarity , + -
and will automatically reverse as it crosses the magnetic
ecliptic . Nothing is simple , is it ? I need another beer.
( HIC )
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