Given the speed (3 weeks) and efficiency (polling the whole orbits group overnight; giving me no chance to talk to professors myself, dozens of University rules broken through the appeals process – I was never put on probation or counseled), I can either be paranoid or blame my dismissal on the general rejection by academics in general of celestial mechanics itself.
The Big Meeting
My advisor Dr. Roger Broucke, one of the leading workers in celestial mechanics (and THE #1 expert in the 3BP), once told me there was a meeting circa 1960 where space science experts gathered to decide if the explanations for the various Relativity phenomena from astrophysics were right or those from classical Newtonian (celestial) mechanics. Relativity won, “because people were very sympathetic toward Einstein at that time,” Dr. Broucke said.
I was the last grad student at the last major university in the world to offer celestial mechanics as a doctoral discipline. There are only two small groups (a couple of professors each) now – one in Barcelona and one in St. Petersburg, Russia. All their people are in a mathematics department, using statistical methods to study dynamical systems using chaos theory.
Satellite Geodesy
The first triumph of Relativity was an explanation for the slight time variation in satellites orbiting Earth. In my satellites class, we modeled the gravity field of the Earth using a 100×100 matrix of values, literally slicing the Earth’s surface into small squares. Each square was a differential equation that was approximated by statistical norms. (NASA uses a much larger matrix, but all the values are always approximated.)
This is the model of the Earth used to simulate s/c orbits. When you compare the actual, observed orbits to the geodesy model, you must add a “Relativity Constant” to make them match. As stated earlier, Relativity is a statistical method, and when you have 10,000 variables that are each an approximation, of course, you need a trash constant to make your model match reality.
Bending of Light by the Sun
Dr. Broucke worked a one-page problem in his Theory of Orbits class: assume light is a photon of mass as it passes the sun. How much does the sun’s gravity alter the photon’s trajectory using standard orbital mechanics? Exactly half that observed, and explained by Relativity.
You can either use tensor calculus and the warping of space-time – like that required to explain the time variation in orbiting satellites – or simply say light becomes photons, and two photons intertwine in a DNA-type helix as it approaches; thus getting bent exactly the value observed.
The N Body Problem
Relativity says that it is impossible for a physical object to travel faster than the speed of light. Space becomes just like a brick wall. Celestial mechanics has a different explanation. In fact, Henri Poincaré, a worker in celestial mechanics, developed all of the Relativity ideas a decade before Einstein published his Theory of General Relativity.
Einstein’s equations use electromechanical concepts. Poincare used the classic N Body Problem. This is the study of a very small object under the influence of MANY Bodies. He thereby assumed space acts as a super-thin fluid. He arrived at the same equations as Einstein. The N Body equations can be reduced in the other direction, condensing down to the same equations as static flow in fluid dynamics. Hence the “aether” explanation.
It’s difficult to imagine a spacecraft in a situation where it is being acted upon simultaneously by many very large bodies. Logically, it would have to be going extremely fast to experience the gravity from a planetary system, and infinitely faster for the N Bodies to be stars. Ergo, when the s/c approaches the speed of light, it doesn’t see a brick wall – but a super-thin fluid. (A scattering of particles per parsec qualifies in this context.)
Conclusion
Dr. Brouck was legally blind. He couldn’t see farther than his outstretched hand. And yet, the Aerospace Department assigned him to teach giant lecture halls introductory statics and dynamics. (I was his TA.) They didn’t like him one bit, a man every bit the intellectual equal of Einstein. When he retired in the summer of 2001, I was no longer under his protection. I was expelled with extreme malice weeks after the next semester started. Good riddance.