testing einstein's universe
«this is a great moment and a great responsibility, the outcome of a unique collaboration of physicists and engineers to develop this near-perfect instrument to test einstein's theory of gravity», said francis everitt, a physicist at stanford university in california who has led the project over its record forty-year gestation.anne kinney, director of the astronomy and physics division in nasa’s office of space science said that gravity probe B has the potential to uncover fundamental properties of the invisible universe, a universe which seems very bizarre and alien to our everyday perceptions yet one that einstein tried to show us almost a century ago.
according to the theory of general relativity, the gravity of a massive, spinning body can drag space-time along with it. gravity probe b houses four gyroscopes - the most perfect spheres ever created - that could measure the "frame dragging" caused by earth. the effect would be seen as small changes in the gyros' spin axes relative to a distant guide star.
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