X-Nico

4 unusual facts about Gravity Probe B


GPB

Gravity Probe B (or GP-B), a satellite mission to study the relativistic effects of Earth's gravity

IM Pegasi

Increased public awareness of it is due to its use as the guide star for the Gravity Probe B general relativity experiment.

London moment

The GP-B gyro consists of a nearly-perfect spherical rotating mass made of fused quartz, which provides a dielectric support for a thin layer of niobium superconducting material.

Rex Geveden

After a few years stint at TBE Geveden joined NASA in 1990, and worked on hardware design for a number of science satellite missions, including as project manager for the Optical Transient Detector satellite, the Lightning Imaging Sensor satellite, and the Gravity Probe B satellite, a successful test of frame dragging effects predicted by General Relativity.



see also