watched a video. professor stated that the viking stole energy from saturn (through orbit and assisted energy transfer) in order to complete its trajectory.
In: Physics
The Earth is losing energy to the Moon, but not to satellites.
Because the Earth turns faster than the Moon rotates around the Earth, our tidal bulge leads the Moon. That tugs on it like someone pulling a kite string. The Moon moves out about an inch per year and in consequence the Earth’s rotation slows.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_acceleration
Now, the Voyager (not Viking) craft did fly-bys that accelerated them outward. Like a baseball hitting a swinging bat, they came out of the encounter with more energy than they started with.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist
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