Spacecraft travel through our solar system benefiting of slingshot effect, provided by the gravitational field of the planets and the sun. Are Newton’s equations sufficiently accurate to calculate interplanetary spacecraft trajectories? Is this the ultimate truth?

According to Mário J. Pinheiro, from the Department of Physics at Instituto Superior Técnico, the origin of a small fraction of the acceleration acquired by the spacecraft (or even an asteroid) is not understood. ESA and NASA need accurate data to design future missions.

Now, this scientist proposes a new physical theory (a topological torsion current), which may explain, in a simple and direct way, the anomalous acceleration detected in spacecraft during close planetary flybys. The article was published in the prestigious Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ( 5th July 2016).