In reply to Harry Veeder's message of Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:46:08 -0500: Hi, [snip] Possible effects:
1) Tidal. 2) Friction with space dust. 3) Interaction with the Solar wind. 4) Uneven solar heating. 5) Gravitational interaction with the Oort cloud &/or Kuiper belt (only mentioned because no one knows their mass or distribution, hence they can't possibly have been properly taken into consideration.) 6) Electric charge on the craft, either residual or built up through interaction with the solar wind &/or friction. 7) Magnetic field of the space craft interacting with the magnetic field of the Earth &/or Sun. (Magnetic field generated through rotation of the craft, causing the residual electrostatic charge to rotate.) 8) All of the above. I write this list just to show that any such calculations are probably based upon simplified models which most likely ignore most is not all of the above. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk The shrub is a plant.
