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April 19, 2004
Gravity Satellite Mission Delayed
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA (news - web sites) postponed the launch on Monday of a $700-million satellite mission designed to test an obscure tenet of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Actually, the "tenet" is not so obscure - it is tied into what may be called the mainstream of relativity - and the satellite mission will provide a means for directly testing whether or not "time" is affected by gravity... see also: the BBC article.
From the NASA Website
Mission: Gravity Probe B
Launch Date: April 20, 2004
Launch Time: 12:57:24 p.m. EDT (instantaneous)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II
Launch Pad: SLC-2
Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Gravity Probe B is the relativity gyroscope experiment being developed by NASA and Stanford University to test two extraordinary, unverified predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
The experiment will check, very precisely, tiny changes in the axis of spin of four gyroscopes contained in an Earth satellite orbiting at 400-mile altitude directly over the poles. So free are the gyroscopes from disturbance that they will provide an almost perfect space-time reference system. They will measure how space and time are warped by the presence of the Earth, and, more profoundly, how the Earth's rotation drags space-time around with it. These effects, though small for the Earth, have far-reaching implications for the nature of matter and the structure of the Universe.
Gravity Probe B is among the most thoroughly researched programs ever undertaken by NASA. This is the story of a scientific quest in which physicists and engineers have collaborated closely over many years. Inspired by their quest, they have invented a whole range of new technologies -- technologies that are already benefiting other branches of science and engineering.
Posted by Blogorithm at April 19, 2004 10:40 PM
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