A planet's gravity assist as a powerful amplifier of small physical effects in the Solar system

Abstract

A planetary model simulating the Sun, Venus, and Earth is constructed with the possibility of “Venus” to render a gravity assist to a ballistic space probe sent from the Earth's orbit. Thorough analytical and numerical analysis shows that a shift of the probe's impact parameter (IP) entails a noticeable deflection of the probe at the final point back on the Earth's orbit. For a relatively short IP, the “Venus-GA” acts as a powerful amplifier (up to 105 times), making it possible to detect changes in the probe's IP that are caused by different physical reasons. This finding prompted Solar system experiments to measure very small physical effects, e.g., to check the actuality of gravity theories.