ESA STE-QUEST Mission Could Help Unravel Origin of Flyby Anomaly
By Hubert Foy on November 26, 2012
The European Space Agency?s (ESA) proposed Space-Time Explorer and Quantum Equivalence Principle Space Test (STE-QUEST) mission could help unravel the mystery of the flyby anomaly.
Flyby anomaly occurs when a spacecraft taking advantage of the gravitational boost provided by an Earth flyby experiences a tiny extra boost in velocity. The anomaly was first observed in 1990 when NASA?s Galileo spacecraft velocity jumped by about 4 mm/s more than expected due to an Earth flyby en route to Jupiter. A similar velocity boost happened during flybys of the NEAR, Cassini , and Rosetta spacecraft. Yet, the origin of flyby anomaly has stumped scientists for two decades...
