Satellite startet um Einsteins Vorhersagen zu testen

[Sir Ulli]

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A satellite designed to test two fundamental predictions made by Albert Einstein about the universe is ready for launch, 45 years after it was first proposed, NASA and Stanford University officials said Friday.

Since 1959, Gravity Probe B has overcome a half-dozen attempts at cancellation, countless technical hurdles and several delayed launches. The NASA-funded, university-developed spacecraft is now scheduled to begin its mission following an April 17 liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/TECH/space/04/02/einstein.satellite.ap/story.vert.gravity.probe.ap.jpg
The Gravity Probe B

Full Story at CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/04/02/einstein.satellite.ap/index.html)

Gravity Probe B testings Einsteins Universe (http://einstein.stanford.edu/)

Einstein after seven Decades (http://einstein.stanford.edu/content/story_of_gpb/gpbsty2.html)

Gravity Probe B FAQ (http://einstein.stanford.edu/content/faqs/faqs.html)

und noch etwas auf Deutsch

Einstein auf die Probe gestellt (http://www.weltderphysik.de/themen/bausteine/teilchen/schwerpunkte/nebenwirkungen/)

Seit fast 40 Jahren bereiten Wissenschaftler der NASA und der Universität Stanford ein Experiment vor, das die Zusammenhänge von Raum, Zeit und Schwerkraft erforschen soll. Mit "Gravity Probe-B" wollen sie überprüfen – oder widerlegen –, was Albert Einsteins Berechnungen zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts ergaben: dass die Raumzeit durch einen schweren Körper "gekrümmt" wird. Auch eine rotierende Masse wie unsere Erde sollte das Raumzeit- Gewebe quasi mit sich reißen.

MFG
Sir Ulli

[Sir Ulli]

Spacecraft launched to test Albert Einstein's theories

A slender Boeing Delta 2 rocket boosted NASA's Gravity Probe B spacecraft into polar orbit today, kicking off a $700 million mission to precisely measure how gravity warps and twists the fabric of space and time.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d304/images/040420gpbntv.jpg
The Delta 2 rocket launches with Gravity Probe-B. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

if successful, the mission will confirm - or contradict - two fundamental predictions of the general theory of relativity, Einstein's elegant explanation of gravity that has stood the test of time for more than three quarters of a century. Either way, scientists who have been waiting 40 years for the measurements in question say the results will provide profound new insights into the nature of gravity, the least understood of the four fundamental forces of nature.

Full Story at Spacefligt now (http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d304/)

MFG
Sir Ulli

[Sir Ulli]

Status check shows Gravity Probe B in good shape

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d304/images/040420gravityprobeb.jpg
An artist's concept of the Gravity Probe-B spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Stanford University

Gravity Probe B - a NASA mission to test two predictions of Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity - is orbiting 400 miles above Earth, and all spacecraft systems are performing well. Its solar arrays are generating power, and all electrical systems are powered on. The spacecraft is communicating well with its supporting satellite relay and ground stations.

Full Story at Spacefligt Now (http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0404/23gpbstatus/)

http://www.th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/~jr/gif/phys/einst_yerkes.jpg
Albert Einstein at Yerkes Observatory (http://astro.uchicago.edu/yerkes/)
"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." Albert Einstein
Person of the Century:
Albert Einstein (http://www.time.com/time/time100/poc/magazine/albert_einstein5a.html)
He was the pre-eminent scientist in a century dominated by science. The touchstones of the era — the Bomb, the Big Bang, quantum physics and electronics — all bear his imprint

MFG
Sir Ulli

[Sir Ulli]

Picking on Einstein

By measuring the shape of space with exquisite precision, NASA's Gravity Probe B spacecraft aims to confirm Einstein's theory of relativity ... or provide the first evidence against it.

March 28, 2005: This year marks the 100th anniversary of a revolution in our notions of space and time.

Before 1905, when Albert Einstein published his theory of special relativity, most people believed that space and time were as Sir Isaac Newton described them back in the 17th century: Space was the fixed, unchanging "stage" upon which the great cosmic drama unfolded, and time was the mysterious, universal "clock in the sky."

Even today, people commonly assume that this intuitive sense of space and time is correct. It's not.

Einstein's 1905 paper, along with another one he published in 1915, painted an entirely different and mind-bending picture. Space itself is constantly being warped and curved by the matter and energy moving within it, and time flows at different rates for different observers. Numerous real-world experiments over the last 100 years indicate that, amazingly, Einstein was right.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/images/gamma/spacetime_strip.jpg
Above: Newton's fixed space vs. Einstein's flexible spacetime, from the film "Testing Einstein's Universe" by Norbert Bartel.

...

Full Story (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/28mar_gamma.htm)

mfg
Sir Ulli

[Sir Ulli]

Space-time Vortex

NASA's Gravity Probe B spacecraft has gathered all the data physicists need to check a bizarre prediction of Einstein's relativity.

We'll soon know the answer: A NASA/Stanford physics experiment called Gravity Probe B (GP-B) recently finished a year of gathering science data in Earth orbit. The results, which will take another year to analyze, should reveal the shape of space-time around Earth--and, possibly, the vortex.

Time and space, according to Einstein's theories of relativity, are woven together, forming a four-dimensional fabric called "space-time." The tremendous mass of Earth dimples this fabric, much like a heavy person sitting in the middle of a trampoline. Gravity, says Einstein, is simply the motion of objects following the curvaceous lines of the dimple.

If Earth were stationary, that would be the end of the story. But Earth is not stationary. Our planet spins, and the spin should twist the dimple, slightly, pulling it around into a 4-dimensional swirl. This is what GP-B went to space to check
...

Full Story

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/16nov_gpb.htm

mfg
Sir Ulli