Gravity Probe B

What is Gravity Probe B?

Gravity Probe B (GP-B) was a satellite-based mission to test two unverified predictions
of general relativity: the geodetic effect and frame-dragging. This was to be accomplished by
measuring, very precisely, tiny changes in the direction of spin of four gyroscopes contained in
an Earth satellite orbiting at 650 km (400 mi) altitude, crossing directly over the poles.

Mission Objectives
Gravity Probe B (GP-B) is a NASA physics mission to experimentally investigate Albert
Einstein's 1916 general theory of relativity—his theory of gravity. GB-B used four spherical
gyroscopes and a telescope, housed in a satellite orbiting 642 km (400 mi) above the Earth, to
measure in a new way, and with unprecedented accuracy, two extraordinary effects predicted by
the general theory of relativity (the second effect having never before been directly measured):
1. The geodetic effect—the amount by which the Earth warps the local spacetime in which
it resides.
2. The frame-dragging effect—the amount by which the rotating Earth drags its local
spacetime around with it.
The GP-B experiment tests these two effects by precisely measuring the displacement angles
of the spin axes of the four gyros over the course of a year and comparing these experimental
results with predictions from Einstein's theory.
GP-B is actually the second dedicated NASA physics experiment to test aspects of general
relativity. The first, Gravity Probe A, was led in 1976 by Dr. Robert Vessot of the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory. Gravity Probe A compared elapsed time in three identical hydrogen
maser clocks—two on the ground and the third traveling for two hours in a rocket and confirmed
the Einstein redshift prediction to 1.4 parts in 104.

Why Perform Another Test of Einstein's Theory?

With the general theory of relativity, acclaimed as one of the most brilliant creations of
the human mind, Einstein forever changed our Newtonian view of gravity. However, even
though it has become one of the cornerstones of modern physics, general relativity has remained
the least tested of Einstein’s theories. The reason is, as Caltech physicist Kip Thorne once put it:
“In the realm of black holes and the universe, the language of general relativity is spoken, and it
is spoken loudly. But in our tiny solar system, the effects of general relativity are but whispers.”
And so, any measurements of the relativistic effects of gravity around Earth must be carried out
with utmost precision. Over the past 90 years, various tests of the theory suggest that Einstein
was on the right track. But, in most previous tests, the relativity signals had to be extracted from
a significant level of background noise. The purpose of GP-B is to test Einstein’s theory by
carrying out the experiment in a pristine orbiting laboratory, thereby reducing background noise
to insignificant levels and enabling the Probe to examine general relativity in new ways.
Gravity is the most fundamental force in nature; it affects all of us all the time. But
gravity is still an enigma—we don’t completely understand it. Einstein’s 1916 general theory of
relativity forever changed our notions of space and time, and it gave us a new way to think about
gravity. If the Gravity Probe-B experimental results corroborate the geodetic and frame-dragging
predictions of general relativity, we will have made the most precise measurement of the shape
of local spacetime and confirmed the theory of general relativity to a new standard of precision.
If on the other hand, the results disagree with Einstein's theoretical predictions, we may be faced
with the challenge of constructing a whole new theory of the universe’s structure and the motion
of matter.

The Geodetic and Frame-Dragging Effects

Gravity Probe B was designed to test, through a direct, controlled experiment, two
predictions of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The first, known as the geodetic —or as it is
sometimes called, deSitter— effect, measures the size of the very small angle by which our Earth
warps its local spacetime. One way to visualize this effect is to think of local spacetime as a
trampoline and the Earth a bowling ball lying in the middle. The heavy ball warps or puts a dent
in the trampoline, so that a marble (another celestial body) moving along the trampoline surface
will be inexorably drawn down the warped slope towards the massive ball.
An alternative way to visualize the geodetic warping of spacetime is the so-called
“missing inch” shown in the diagram and video clip below. If you were to draw a circle with the
same diameter (D) as the Earth (~7,900 miles) in empty space, the circumference of this circle,
calculated using standard Euclidian geometry, would be π x D (~24,000 miles). Furthermore, a
gyroscope following this circular path in empty space would always point in the same direction,
as illustrated in the left side of the diagram.
However, if you were then to slip the Earth inside this circle, Earth’s mass warps the
spacetime inside the circle into a shallow cone, thereby shrinking the circumference of the circle
by a mere 1.1 inches. You can see this effect (not to scale) by cutting out a pie-shaped wedge
from the circle and then closing the gap. The circumference of the resulting cone is slightly
diminished, and the orientation of a gyroscope will now shift as it moves around the circular
edge of the cone, as shown in the right half of diagram. Measuring this shifting orientation of a
gyroscope’s spin axis as it moves through warped spacetime is the essence of the GP-B
experiment.
 The other effect being measured by GP-B, known as “frame-dragging,” was postulated
by Austrian physicists Josef Lense and Hans Thirring two years after Einstein published his
general theory of relativity. It states that as a celestial body spins on its axis, it drags local
spacetime around with it, much like a spinning ball in bowl of molasses would drag around some
of the molasses as it spins. This concept is illustrated in the diagram to the right.
Particularly intriguing, the frame-dragging measurement probes a new facet of general
relativity—the way in which spacetime is dragged around by a rotating body. This novel effect
closely parallels the way in which a rotating electrically charged body generates magnetism. For
this reason, it is often referred to as the “gravitomagnetic effect,” and measuring it can be
regarded as discovering a new force in nature, the gravitomagnetic force.

Experimental Design
Conceptually, the GP-B experiment is simple:
1. Place a gyroscope and a telescope in a polar-orbiting satellite, 642 km (400 mi) above the
Earth. (GP-B actually uses four gyroscopes for redundancy.)
2. At the start of the experiment, align both the telescope and the spin axis of each
gyroscope with a distant reference point—a guide star.
3. Keep the telescope aligned with the guide star for a year, as the spacecraft makes over
5,000 orbits around the Earth, and measure the change in the spin-axis alignment of each
gyro over this period in both the plane of the orbit (the geodetic precession) and
orthogonally in the plane of the Earth's rotation (frame-dragging precession).
The predicted geodetic gyro-spin-axis precession is a tiny angle of 6,606 milliarcseconds
(0.0018 degrees) in the orbital plane of the spacecraft. The orthogonal frame-dragging precession
is a minuscule angle of 39 milliarcseconds (1.1x10-5 degrees).

Astrophysical Significance of the GP-B Experiment

Physics advances experimentally in two ways:
1. Measuring known effects with higher accuracy
2. Investigating previously untested phenomena
The geodetic effect has previously been determined to ~1% in complex studies of the Earth-
Moon system around the Sun. GP-B aims to measure it to ~0.01%. The frame-dragging effect,
on the other hand, is so minuscule around a planet the size of our Earth that until GP-B, it has not
been possible to measure this effect directly. However, the frame-dragging effect is of particular
interest to physicists and cosmologists who study black holes, because like the air in a hurling
tornado, the hurling space around a black hole has enormous destructive potential.
 At the GP-B press conference held at NASA Headquarters in April 2004, just prior to the
GP-B launch, Caltech physicist Kip Thorne, one of the world’s leading experts on black holes,
made the following comments on the significance of the frame-dragging effect:
“The black dot in the center [drawing in the video clip to the right] represents a black hole. It is
surrounded by an accretion disc of gas, shown in yellow, that we believe is forced into the
equatorial plane of the black hole by the dragging of spacetime in that vicinity. Jets of energy
[blue light in the video clip drawing] shoot out in both directions along the spin axis produced by
frame-dragging around the black hole. Furthermore, the interaction of the frame-dragging around
black holes with magnetic fields is responsible for the enormous and destructive power
generation that produces the jets of energy streaming out of these objects.”
Thorne then concluded: “The results of the GP-B experiment will enable us to verify that
the frame-dragging effect does indeed exist, and that it is directly proportional to the angular
momentum of our spinning Earth. Physicists and cosmologists will then be able to extrapolate
these frame-dragging measurements around the Earth to much more massive celestial objects,
such as black holes and quasars.”

Gravity Probe B Timeline

TIMELINE
Special relativity is a theory proposed by Albert Einstein that describes the
propagation of matter and light at high speeds. It was invented to explain the
observed behavior of electric and magnetic fields, which it beautifully reconciles
into a single so-called electromagnetic field, and also to resolve a number of
1905
paradoxes that arise when considering travel at great speeds. Special relativity also
explains the behavior of fast-traveling particles, including the fact that fast-
traveling unstable particles appear to decay more slowly than identical particles
traveling more slowly. Special relativity is an indispensable tool of modern physics,
and its predictions have been experimentally tested time and time again without any
discrepancies arising.
General Theory of Relativity - A theory invented by Albert Einstein which
describes gravitational forces in terms of the curvature in space caused by the
presence of mass. The fundamental principle of general relativity asserts that
accelerated reference frames and reference frames in gravitation fields are
1915
equivalent.
1924 A. S. Eddington - proposed an earth-based gyroscope or pendulum experiment of
general relativity.
Physicist George Pugh, an MIT professor working with the Institute for Defense
Analyses proposed testing General Relativity by observing the precession of a
1959 gyroscope in an earth-orbiting satellite with respect to a distant star, using orbiting
gyroscopes in a drag-free satellite. Independently, Leonard Schiff of Stanford
University was also thinking of using gyroscopes to test the effects of general
 relativity, but in a ground-based system. After consulting with his colleages Bill
Fairbank and Bob Cannon, it became clear that orbiting gyroscopes would provide
both the pristine laboratory and the precision required to make the tests. According
to Schiff's calculations a gyroscope in polar orbit at 400 miles should turn with the
Earth through an angle amounting after one year to 42 milliarc-seconds.
Bill Fairbank introduces his boss, Leonard Schiff, to Robert Cannon at the Stanford
swimming pool. In his first exposure to the laboratory equipment that Schiff and
Fairbank are discussing (a gyro measuring 0.5 arc sec per year) Cannon notes that
(a) the support force required in the earth's 1 g gravity field would produce drift
errors much too large to do the experiment on earth; However, (b) it might well be
do-able in orbit at one millionth g or less, and (c) orbital flight, tailor made, was
sure to be available for this experiment. United States' capability surprises the
others, for Sputnik had been launched only two years earlier. But Cannon knows of
1959 Agena, and has earlier been at NASA headquarters and learned from Dr. Nancy
Roman of NASA's plans for an orbiting astronomical observatory. A potentially
perfect match. Schiff responds that the geodetic effect would of course be 15 times
as large in orbit (15 orbits per day begets 7 arc sec per year). Schiff later notes to
Cannon that being in orbit would also enable seeing for the first time the gravity
frame-dragging predicted by Einstein. (Cannon: "And how large would that be?"
Schiff: "0.040 arc sec per year. And we need that to within 1 per cent." Cannon's
personal goal of 1 degree per century has been replaced by the goal of 1 degree per
million years. A fine reward for simply coming to Stanford University.) Fairbank
and his team then rapidly lay out a remarkable in-depth first design for an orbiting
experimental system.

1961 First formal contact w/NASA - Fairbank writes Dr Abe Siberstein describing an
instrument that would measure the geodetic precession to a few percent.
1962 Francis Everitt joins William Fairbank and Leonard Shiff at Stanford on the
Gravity Probe B experiment.
NASA funding commences (retroactive to 1963) with supplement from U. S. Air
1964 Force (Cannon & Fairbank co-principal investigators). With help from Honeywell,
start developing gyroscopes.
1965 1st fused quartz telescope built.
NASA begins examining feasibility of a flight experiment. Ball Aerospace
completed a Mission Definition Study which was the first look at the spacecraft
1971 layout, including a dewar spaceflight test, a gyro spaceflight test, and then the
science mission. The dewar spaceflight test was accomplished in the 1982 flight of
the IRAS (Infra-red Astronomy Satellite) dewar.
1976 Gravity Probe A - GP-A was launched from NASA-Wallops Flight Center in
Virginia. The 1 hour 55-minute flight of a MASER atomic clock demonstrated that
time changed as it rose to weaker levels of gravity, then fell back to the Earth. The
primary objective of the mission was to test a portion of Einstein's gravitation and
relativity theories called the "Principle of Equivalence," or "redshift" to an accuracy
of 200 parts per million. It attained an altitude of 6,200 miles above the Earth
before crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.
1999 Gyroscopes, Quartz Block, & Telescope complete.
 2004 April 20, 2004 gravity probe b successfully launches out of Vandenburg Air Force
Base at 9:55 AM
2010 December 2010, final data collected