Gravity Probe B

Gauracandra · July 31, 2003

Maybe Avinash can explain this. I know nothing about physics but I was reading up on this experiment. These are the kinds of things that are really interesing (like the Hubble telescope).

People are a bit apathetic about NASA but they are atleast a government agency that really pushes the boundaries of what is known, and produces something.

Check out some of the images. I don't know how it works, or anything. But just the images look sci-fi. Seeing something like this makes me think "Maybe they really do have UFOs at Area 51" /images/graemlins/smile.gif

http://einstein.stanford.edu/

Gauracandra · July 31, 2003

Go to general interest, then images. And just pull up big shots of them. I have no idea what these components are doing, but they have to be made perfect in order to avoid any distorting effects on the experiment. For instance they have ball bearings so perfectly made that if the earth was a smooth the highest mountain would be 8 feet tall. I find the images captivating even if I have no idea what they are.

Avinash · August 1, 2003

According to Einstein's General theory of relativity, gravity affects space and time.

Gravity Probe B is an experiment being developed by NASA and Stanford University to test this claim of the general theory. The experiment involves four gyroscopes contained in a satellite in a 650 km polar orbit. The gyroscopes will measure how space and time are warped by the presence of the Earth, and, more profoundly, how the Earth's rotation affects space-time.

Gauracandra · August 4, 2003

Its interesting, that when the last space shuttle was destroyed on reentry, NASA had search teams going around collecting all the pieces. Apparently, and this is not some conspiracy theory, NASA was conducting atleast one top secret experiment on the shuttle and wanted to track down all the component parts. No one explained what it was. Imagine being a fly on the wall of some of these government agencies - perhaps that will be my next life if I don't get my act together /images/graemlins/smile.gif

If Gravity Probe B can explain more of how gravity works that would be very interesting. Isn't there some controversy Avinash in the physics world on whether anti-gravity exists? I think most believe it does not exist. Perhaps this experiment can verify that or assist in learning how to control or modify gravitational pulls. That would revolutionize space travel.

Avinash · August 9, 2003

The word anti-gravity is used in various diverse senses. Could you tell in what sense you are using this term?

Thank you.

Gauracandra · August 18, 2003

I guess gravity is a natural attraction between two objects. So anti-gravity would be some means of shielding one object from this attractive nature. If you had an object that could turn on or off its "attractiveness" to the earth, or even become "repulsed" by the earth, then the implications for space travel would be phenomenal

Avinash · August 18, 2003

Did you read about anti-gravity in some web-site?

It is not possible to remove the gravity between two objects. But, it is definitely possible to introduce some repulsive force between them which is equal in magnitude to the gravity between them. It does not mean that we have removed the gravity. it is just that we have introduced another force which balances gravity.