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Re: (meteorobs) phantom-orbits
> In a message dated 2/19/00 8:50:40 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> staff@meteors.com writes:
>
> << My friend is certain that he read an article in Wired magazine in which
> the architect of a prominent space probe said that the craft would be
> placed in a so-called "phantom-orbit": an orbit around no mass, only
> space.
> Both of us are puzzled by this. So, I'm coming to the experts.
> Does anyone know of such a thing?
> I was unable to recover any articles from Wired's archive.
> I know that there is a craft around the very weak gravity of Eros.
I wonder if this could be a reference to placing spacecraft (or even
colonies) at the LaGrange points of the Earth-moon system. There's been
talk of that from time to time, although I do not recall hearing of any
spacecraft actually planned for that type of thing. It's my understanding
that a spacecraft very near a LaGrange point would move in a non-circular
orbit around the actual LaGrange point itself, which would have no mass.
If your friend could remember the name of the space probe, that would be
helpful for checking further.
Dave Hostetter
Curator of the Planetarium
Lafayette (LA) Natural History Museum & Planetarium
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