Space, Einstein & Technology: The NASA-Stanford Gravity Probe B mission
C.W. Francis Everitt, W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Gravity Probe B (GP-B) was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on
20 April and entered its science phase 27 August 2004. It will perform two
highly accurate tests of two effects in General Relativity, Einstein's theory
of gravitation, by means of orbiting gyroscopes: 1) the 6.6 arc-s/year geodetic
effect due to the motion of the gyroscope through the curved space-time around
the Earth; 2) the 0.042 arc-s/year frame-dragging effect due to the 'dragging
around' of space and time by the rotating Earth. In addition to describing
GP-B science and the many new technologies developed for the experiment, a few
comments will be offered on the management challenges of developing a space mission
and the real-life experience of running a physics experiment on-orbit.
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