Nieto and Anderson reply: The magnitude of the frame-dragging effect would be impossible to detect for satellites that fly by Earth. But Jupiter is another story. Indeed, NASA’s Juno mission, scheduled for launch in 2011, will place a polar orbiter about Jupiter in 2016. The orbiter will approach Jupiter at altitudes ranging from about 4000 to 6000 km every 11 days over about 31 orbital revolutions. The very real possibility that frame dragging will have a measurable effect should be addressed by the Juno gravity team, of which one of us (Anderson) is the team leader.
© 2010 American Institute of Physics.
2010
American Institute of Physics
