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NASA Gravity Probe Set for Launch

Posted by michael on from the weighty-concepts dept.

The Real Dr John writes "NASA announced yesterday that its longest running program, Gravity Probe B, was ready and scheduled for launch on April 17th. The project has taken 44 years to complete, at a cost of approximately $700 million. The reason for the high cost is that the probe contains the most sensitive gyroscopic equipment ever created, which will be used to test Einstein's theory of gravity. Einstein predicted that the gravity created by a large body warped space-time, but he also predicted that if the large body was rotating it would create a drag effect on space-time known as frame dragging. Gravity Probe B will be able to test Einstein's theory using Earth's relatively small gravitational field because the instruments are so sensitive."

6 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Einstein was a (gravitational) drag... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seems God plays roulette even if he doesn't play dice.

    1. Re:Einstein was a (gravitational) drag... by MisanthropicProgram · · Score: 5, Funny
      That's true, but I don't think he really knew the gravity of what he was saying.

      Ouch! Hey what's with the tomatoes?!

  2. Eww! by tigress · · Score: 4, Funny

    Einstein predicted that the gravity created by a large body warped space-time, but he also predicted that if the large body was rotating it would create a drag effect on space-time known as frame dragging.

    AAagh! Mental images of my ex dancing! *SHUDDER!*

  3. Bureaucracy by slipgun · · Score: 4, Funny

    NASA announced yesterday that its longest running program, Wooden Block B, was ready and scheduled for dropping off the Empire State Building on April 17th. The project has taken 44 years to complete, at a cost of approximately $700 million. The reason for the high cost is that the probe contains the most expensive wood ever created, which will be used to test Newton's theory of gravity. Newton predicted that an attractive force known as 'gravity' will act between any two bodies. Wooden Block B will be able to test Newton's theory using Earth's gravitational field, and a very tall building.

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  4. Naked Physicists... by tinrobot · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the article :

    Since the project was conceived by three scientists after a naked midday swim at Stanford University's pool, more than 1,000 people have worked on the satellite. Two of its founders are dead. More than 90 people have earned their doctorates working on the project.

    Naked physicists... wow... with the current administration in charge, this project would have never been approved.

  5. Ah, GP-B.... by gilroy · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... the project that ate Stanford.

    When I was a grad student there, we had a running joke that nobody could get an astrophysics degree without selling at least a piece of their soul to Francis Everett, the chief booster for this project.

    I was there when a rogue group suggested that, in the intervening four decades, technology had advanced enough to do the frame-dragging experiment with a laser-coordinated satellite net for half the cost.

    We also circulated the "fact" that the GP-B launch date slipped by about 1.05 days per day. A friend defined it as a new universal constant for project overruns... :)

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