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Hacking Cassini To Detect Gravity Waves

Posted by timothy on from the ether-net dept.

lennon writes: "With some upgrades to the tracking equipment, NASA is going to try to detect gravitational waves by tracking the speed of the Cassini probe. They've tried this with other spacecraft, but the sensors have evolved since then. Complete press release is here. Looks like a neat hack."

4 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. related to string theory? by 2Bits · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space and time that are set off by accelerations of massive bodies, such as black holes or supernovas.

    Sounds like string theory in applied science. Could anyone explain/comment how much of string theory affect research in space travel?

  2. Nice experiment to prepare the way for LISA... by Tsar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It will be interesting to see whether this experiment gets the results everyone seems to be anticipating, or mirrors the 'success' of the Michelson-Morley experiment.

    The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) (launching in 2009) should return significantly better data, but it'll be nice to get a sneak preview from Cassini.

    "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'" — Isaac Asimov

  3. Re:Uncertainty? by Zen+Mastuh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Now it makes more sense--thanks for the enlightenment. Also I finally grokked that the procedure will be performed a few more times over the next year, when the positions of planets and asteroids are significantly different from today's positions.

    I learned in physics that waves don't have mass, then learned later (on /. maybe???) that they can be affected by gravity (and other forces, ostensibly). I'll play devil's advocate here and suggest that the transmitters' waves can themselves be affected by other forces besides the elusive gravity waves. Agree/disagree.

    --
    "What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
  4. Re:NOTHING to do with string theory. by spiro_killglance · · Score: 3, Interesting


    Quite true. At present String theory doesn't
    even seem to be sciences best bet for a
    quantum theory of gravity. A theory called
    Loop Quantum Gravity, that describes space-time
    as network of lines each labelled with a spin,
    is rapidly become a much more promising theory.
    String theory still requires a space-time for
    strings to move in, where as LQG, describes how space time is built. There are already some great results in LQG, including the formula for the Entropy of a black hole, a description of a big bang at zero time, no not a singularity, at that time the universe has a finite but huge curvature equal to 256/(81 G h-bar)

    Have a look at the review paper i mentioned above, its excitted
    work.