Test of General Relativity and Measurement of the Lense-Thirring Effect with Two Earth Satellites, 1998-03-27

Item — Box: 1, Folder: 42

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

Articles, photographs, documents, and artifacts pertaining to LAGEOS.

Dates

Creation: 1998-03-27

Creator

From the Collection: United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1958-) (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research in the Archives & Special Collections reading room. Handling guidelines and use restrictions will be communicated and enforced by archives staff members.

Extent

From the Collection: 1.5 Linear feet (2 boxes.)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Lense-Therring effect, a tiny perturbation of teh orbit of a particle caused by the spin of the attracting body, was accurately measured with the use of the data of two laser-ranged satellites, LAGEOS and LAGEOS II, and the earth gravitational model EGM-96. The parameter mu which measures the strength of teh Lense-Therring effect was found to be 1.1 plus or minus 0.2; general relativity predicts mu = 1.