Probing the Flyby Anomaly with the future STE-QUEST mission

TL;DR

This paper proposes using the upcoming STE-QUEST mission's precise orbital tracking to investigate the flyby anomaly, an unexpected acceleration observed in spacecraft gravitational assists, by analyzing hyperbolic flybys and perigee passages.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to probe the flyby anomaly using STE-QUEST's capabilities, linking hyperbolic flybys with elliptic orbit perigee passages.

Findings

STE-QUEST can accurately track spacecraft to detect anomalies.

Hyperbolic flybys are analogous to perigee passages in elliptic orbits.

Potential to clarify the nature of the flyby anomaly.

Abstract

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 the proposed Space-Time Explorer and Quantum Equivalence Principle Space Test (STE- QUEST); following a recent work, we focus on the similarity between an hyperbolic flyby and the perigee passage in a highly elliptic orbit of the latter, as well as its Global Navigation Satellite System precise orbital determination capabilities.