Abstract
The LARES space experiment, by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), is based on the launch of a new laser ranged satellite, called LARES (LAser RElativity Satellite), using the new launch vehicle VEGA (Veicolo Europeo di Generazione. Avanzata, provided by ESA). LARES will have an altitude of about 1,450 km, orbital inclination of about 71. 5∘ and nearly zero eccentricity. The LARES satellite together with the satellites LAGEOS (LAser GEOdynamics Satellite launched by NASA) and LAGEOS 2 (built by ASI and launched by NASA and ASI) and with improved GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, a NASA/DLR, German Space Agency, mission) Earth’s gravity field models will allow a measurement of the Earth’s gravitomagnetic field and of Lense–Thirring effect with an uncertainty of a few percent. After a description of the LARES experiment and of the orbit of LARES, we present an analysis of the main error sources affecting the measurement of gravitomagnetism; these are due to the uncertainties in the Earth’s gravitational field, and in particular to the Earth’s even zonal harmonics, to the time dependent Earth’s gravitational field, and in particular to \dot{J}6 and to the K 1 tide. We also discuss the effect of particle drag and the error due to the uncertainties in the measurement of the orbital inclination. We finally describe some technical and engineering aspects of the LARES mission, and in particular: the laser ranging technique, the cube corner reflectors and the satellite body. We conclude with a brief discussion of LARES separation system and the selected launcher.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Ciufolini, I., Theory and Experiments in General Relativity and other Metric Theories. Ph. Dissertation, Univ. of Texas, Austin, Ann Arbor, Michigan (1984).
Ciufolini, I., Measurement of the Lense-Thirring drag on high-altitude laser-ranged artificial satellites. Phys. Rev. Lett., 56, 278–281 (1986).
Ciufolini, I., A comprehensive introduction to the Lageos gravitomagnetic experiment: from the importance of the gravitomagnetic field in physics to preliminary error analysis and error budget. Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 4, 3083–3145 (1989); see also: [4, 5].
Tapley, B., Ries, J.C., Eanes, R.J., and Watkins, M.M., NASA-ASI Study on LAGEOS III, CSR-UT publication n. CSR-89-3, Austin, Texas (1989).
Ciufolini, I. et al., ASI-NASA Study on LAGEOS III, CNR, Rome, Italy (1989). See also: I. Ciufolini et al., INFN study on LARES/WEBER-SAT (2004).
Ciufolini, I., Paolozzi, A., Pavlis, E.C. et al., LARES phase A study for ASI (1998).
Ries, J.C., Simulation of an experiment to measure the Lense-Thirring precession using a second LAGEOS satellite. Ph. Dissertation, Univ. of Texas, Austin (1989).
Peterson, G.E., Estimation of the Lense-Thirring precession using laser-ranged satellites. Ph. Dissertation, Univ. of Texas, Austin (1997).
Ciufolini, I. and Wheeler, J.A., Gravitation and Inertia (Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1995).
Ciufolini, I. and Pavlis, E.C., A confirmation of the general relativistic prediction of the Lense-Thirring effect, Nature, 431, 958–960 (2004).
Reigber, C., Schmidt, R., Flechtner, F., Koenig, R., Meyer, U., Neumayer, K.H., Schwintzer, P. and Zhu, S.Y., An Earth gravity field model complete to degree and order 150 from GRACE: EIGEN-GRACE02S. J. Geodyn., 39, 1–10 (2005). The EIGEN-GRACE02S gravity field coefficients and their calibrated errors are available at: http://op.gfz-potsdam.de/grace/index_GRACE.html
Tapley, B., Ries, J., Bettadpur, S., Chambers, D., Cheng, M., Condi, F., Gunter, B., Kang, Z., Nagel, P., Pastor, R., Pekker, T., Poole, S., and Wang, F., GGM02 An improved Earth gravity field model from GRACE. J. Geod., 79, 467–478 (2005). The GGM02 gravity model is available at: http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/gravity/
Reigber, Ch., Flechtner, F., Koenig, R., Meyer, U., Neumayer, K., Schmidt, R., Schwintzer, P. and Zhu, S., GRACE Orbit and Gravity Field Recovery at GFZ Potsdam – First Experiences and Perspectives. Eos. Trans. AGU, 83(47), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract G12B-03 (2002).
Tapley, B.D., The GRACE mission: status and performance assessment. Eos. Trans. AGU, 83(47), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract G12B-01 (2002).
Watkins, M.M., Yuan, D., Bertiger, W., Kruizinga, G., Romans, L., and Wu, S., 2002. GRACE gravity field results from JPL. Eos. Trans. AGU, 83(47), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract G12B-02.
Ciufolini, I., On a new method to measure the gravitomagnetic field using two orbiting satellites. Nuovo Cimento A, 109, 1709–1720 (1996).
Ciufolini, I., Pavlis, E.C., Chieppa, F., Fernandes-Vieira, E. and Perez-Mercader, J., Test of general relativity and measurement of the Lense-Thirring effect with two Earth satellites. Science, 279, 2100–2103 (1998).
Ciufolini, I., Chieppa, F., Lucchesi, D. and Vespe, F., Test of Lense-Thirring orbital shift due to spin. Class. Quantum Grav., 14, 2701–2726 (1997).
Ciufolini, I., Pavlis, E.C. and Peron, R., Determination of frame-dragging using Earth gravity models from CHAMP and GRACE. New Astron., 11, 527–550 (2006).
Ries, J.C., Eanes, R.J. and Watkins. M.M., Confirming the frame-dragging effect with satellite laser ranging. 16th International Workshop on Laser Ranging, 13–17 October 2008, Poznan, Poland (2008).
Ciufolini, I, Pavlis, E.C., Ries, J., Koenig, R., Sindoni, G., Paolozzi, A. and Newmayer, H.K., Gravitomagnetism and its measurement with laser ranging to the LAGEOS satellites and GRACE Earth gravity models. in this book: General Relativity and John Archibald Wheeler, eds. Ciufolini, I., and Matzner, R. (Springer Verlag, 2010).
Ciufolini, I., Frame-dragging and its measurement. In: Gravitation: from Hubble Length to the Planck Length, Proc. I SIGRAV School on General Relativity and Gravitation, Frascati, Rome, September 2002 (IOP, 2005) pp. 27–69.
Ries, J.C., Eanes, R.J., Tapley, B.D. and Peterson, G.E., Prospects for an improved Lense-Thirring test with SLR and the GRACE gravity mission, in: Toward Millimeter Accuracy Proc. 13th Int. Laser Ranging Workshop, Noomen, R., Klosko, S., Noll, C. and Pearlman, M. eds., (NASA CP 2003212248, NASA Goddard, Greenbelt, MD, (2003).
Pavlis, E.C., Geodetic contributions to gravitational experiments in space. In: Recent Developments in General Relativity, Genoa 2000, R. Cianci, et al., eds. (Springer-Verlag, Milan, 2002) pp. 217–233.
Paolozzi, A., Private communication (2004).
Ries, J., Private communication (2005).
Iorio, L., The impact of the new Earth gravity models on the measurement of the Lense-Thirring effect with a new satellite. New Astron., 10, 616–635 (2005).
ESA (2006): ESA’s Gravity Mission – GOCE Brochure. Available at http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/BR209web.pdf
Iorio, L., Will the recently approved LARES mission be able to measure the Lense-Thirring effect at 1 %? Gen. Relativ. Gravit., 41, 1717–1724 (2009) doi: 10.1007/s10714-008-0742-1; see also: arXiv:0803.3278v5 [gr-qc] (2008).
Kaula, W.M., Theory of Satellite Geodesy (Blaisdell, Waltham, 1966).
Ciufolini, I., Paolozzi, A. et al. LARES, Laser Relativity Satellite, for the study of the Earth gravitational field and general relativity measurement. Phase A report, studio piccole missioni ASI (1998).
Ciufolini, I., Paolozzi, A., and Peroni I. A Preliminary Study for a Satellite Minimizing Solar Radiation Perturbation. In: Atti XIV Congresso Nazionale AIDAA, 521–530 (1997).
Ciufolini, I., and Paolozzi, A. LARES: A New Laser-ranged satellite for fundamental physics and general relativity. Actual Problems of Aviation and Aerospace Systems, 1, 61–73 (1999).
Ciufolini, I., Paolozzi, A., Peroni, I., and Gabrielli, A. A study for a laser ranged relativity satellite. In: Applied Mechanics in the Americas, Proc. of the PACAM VI, vol. 6, 467–470 (1999).
Cimino, C., Paolozzi, A., and Peroni, I. Thermal Analysis of a Satellite Retroreflector Using MSC/NASTRAN. In: Conferenza Utenti MSC, Roma, Ottobre 1999, pp. 9.1–12 (1999).
Paolozzi, A., A new laser ranged satellite for testing general relativity. In: Ninth Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity, Roma, Italy, 2–8 July 2000 (World Scientific, 2002) pp. 1766–1770.
Lucchesi, D.M. and Paolozzi, A. A Cost Effective Approach for LARES Satellite. XVI AIDA, Palermo, Sept. 2001, paper 111 (2001) pp. 1–14.
Ciufolini, I., Currie, D.G., and Paolozzi, A. The LARES Mission for Testing the Dynamics of General Relativity. IEEE Aerospace Conference, Montana, USA, March 2003.
Ciufolini, I., Currie, D.G., Paolozzi, A., and Pavlis, E.C. LARES/WEBERSAT, frame-dragging and fundamental physics. In: Proc. Frontier Science 2004, Physics and Astrophysics in Space, Frascati, 14–19 June, 2004 (INFN, Frascati, 2004).
Paolozzi, A., Ciufolini, I., Lucantoni, A., and Arnold, D., Optical Design of LARES Satellitte. XX AIDAA Congress, Milano, Italy, June 29–July 3, 2009.
Luneburg, R.K., Mathematical Theory of Optics (Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University, 1944) pp. 189–213.
Burmistrov, V.B., Parkhomenko, N.N., Roy, Y.A., Shargorodsky, V.D., Vasiliev, V.P., Degnan, J.J., Habib, S., Glotov, V.D., and Sokolov, N.L., Spherical Retroreflector with an Extremely Small Target Error: International Experiment in Space, available at: http://cddis.nasa.gov/lw13/docs/papers/target_vasiliev_1m.pdf
Shargorodsky, V.D., Vasiliev, V.P., Belov, M.S., Gashkin, I.S., and Parkhomenko, N.N., Spherical Glass Target Microsatellite, Institute for Precision Instrument Engineering, Moscow, Russia. Available at: http://cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov/lw15/docs/document/15_TargetSignalsSession.pdf, pp. 21–25.
Paolozzi, A., Ciufolini, I., Vendittozzi, C., and Peroni, I., Mechanical Design of LARES Satellite. XX AIDAA Congress, Milano, Italy, June 29 –July 3 2009.
Paolozzi, A., Ciufolini, I., Onorati, F.M., Acquaroli, L., Scolamiero, L., Sindoni, G., Paris, C., Vendittozzi, C., Ramiconi, M., Preli, N., Lucantoni, A., Passeggio, F., and Berardis, S., Fibre optic sensors for the validation of the numerical simulation on the breadboard of the LARES separation system. In: IAC-08, Glasgow, Scotland, October 2008.
Paolozzi, A., Ciufolini, I., Paris, C., Sindoni, G., Ramiconi, M., Onorati, F.M., and Scolamiero, L., Design of LARES Separation System. XX AIDAA Congress, Milano, Italy, June 29 – July 3, 2009.
Paolozzi, A., Ciufolini, I., Paris, C., Acquaroli, L., Piersigilli, P., and Gabrielli, A., Tests on LARES separation system components using fiber optic sensors. XX AIDAA Congress Milano, Italy, June 29 –July 3, 2009.
NASA technical memorandum NASA TM X-64915 LAGEOS phase B technical report (NASA), Prepared by the Science and Engineering Directorate of Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, February 1975. Available at: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19750011251_1975011251.pdf
VEGA User’s Manual, Issue 3/ Revision 0 March 2006, Arianespace, at http://www.arianespace.com/launch-services-vega/VEGAUsersManual.pdf
Ciufolini, I., Paolozzi, A., Pavlis, E.C., Ries, J.C., Koenig, R., Matzner, R.A., Sindoni, G., and Neumayer, H., Towards a one percent measurement of frame-dragging by spin with satellite laser ranging to LAGEOS, LAGEOS 2 and LARES and GRACE gravity models. Space Sci. Rev., 148, 71–104 (2009).
Ciufolini I., On the orbit of the LARES satellite (2006), arXiv:gr-qc/0609081v1
Paolozzi, A., Ciufolini, I., Lucantoni, A., Arnold, D., Optical design of LARES satellite. XX AIDAA Congress, Milano, Italy, June 29–July 3, 2009.
Acknowledgement
We gratefully acknowledge the support of ASI, the Italian Space Agency, grant I/043/08/0.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ciufolini, I. et al. (2010). The LARES Space Experiment: LARES Orbit, Error Analysis and Satellite Structure. In: Ciufolini, I., Matzner, R. (eds) General Relativity and John Archibald Wheeler. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 367. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3735-0_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3735-0_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-3734-3
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-3735-0
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)