paper

On the impossibility of using the longitude of the ascending node of GP-B for measuring the Lense-Thirring effect

arXiv:gr-qc/0404107 · doi:10.1007/s10714-005-0026-y

Abstract

The possibility of analyzing the node Omega of the GP-B satellite in order to measure also the Lense-Thirring effect on its orbit is examined. This feature is induced by the general relativistic gravitomagnetic component of the Earth gravitational field. The GP-B mission has been launched in April 2004 and is aimed mainly to the measurement of the gravitomagnetic precession of four gyroscopes carried onboard at a claimed accuracy of 1% or better. The aliasing effect of the solid Earth and ocean components of the solar K_1 tidal perturbations would make the measurement of the Lense-Thirring effect on the orbit unfeasible. Indeed, the science period of the GP-B mission amounts to almost one year. During this time span the Lense-Thirring shift on the GP-B node would be 164 milliarcseconds (mas), while the tidal perturbations on its node would have a period of the order of 10^3 years and amplitudes of the order of 10^5 mas.

LaTex, 10 pages, 1 table, no figures. References added. Small changes in the Introduction. References updated. To appear in General Relativity and Gravitation

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