Gravity seminar - Ruxandra Bondarescu Seminar

Satellite tracking involves sending light signals to Earth. Both the orbit of the spacecraft and the electromagnetic signals are affected by spacetime curvature. The arrival times of the pulses can be compared to the ticks of local clocks to reconstruct the orbital path of the satellite to high accuracy. In this talk I will discuss the size of higher order general relativistic effects like frame dragging for space missions on highly eccentric orbits like Juno and Cassini and the effect of the planet's spin on the satellite orbit.