note BrowserUk <blockquote><i>Say you have a spaceship in a circular orbit around the sun ... and request a result with a millimeter precision.</i></blockquote> <p>Sorry, but your misunderstandings are legion. <P>It would be impossible to pre-calculate such an encounter, regardless of the precision of the calculations. <P>The gravitational field of the Sun is neither uniform nor constant; and we do not yet have, and never will have, an accurate mapping of it; nor any way to produce one. <P>For a start, in order to produce such a map, it would be necessary to have an identifiable reference point or line, but the Sun's surface and its interior rotate at different speeds; and the surface rotates at different speeds relative to latitude, with the poles rotating almost 50% faster than the equator. The surface is constantly changing so there is no way to denote a fixed reference point. <P>In addition, solar radiation has a profound affect upon small craft in orbit around the Sun; and it is entirely unpredictable. <P>These, and many other factors, are why all long distance space flights have in-transit correction burns built into them. Not to correct for inaccuracies in precalculations; but rather to correct for the unknowable and unpredictable affects of gravitational perturbations and variable solar pressures. <p>And that is why all docking maneuvers in space require either manual corrections or programmed, active corrections using vehicle to vehicle sensing during final approach. <p>The polite assessment of your idea is that it is a solution looking for a problem to solve. If implemented, it would at best be, an unnecessary drain on computing resources; at worst, completely pointless. <div class="pmsig"><div class="pmsig-171588"> <hr /> <font size=1 > <div>With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'</div> <div>Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.</div> <div>"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". </div> <div>In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. <p align=right> [|RIP Neil Armstrong]</p></div> </font> </div></div> 1009200 1009261