Browsing by Author "Ries, John C."
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Item Comparison of LARES 1 and LARES 2 missions – one year after the launch(Materials Research Forum, 2023-11-01) Ciufolini, Ignazio; Paolozzi, Antonio; Ortore, Emiliano; Paris, Claudio; Pavlis, Erricos C.; Ries, John C.; Matzner, RichardThe LARES 1 and LARES 2 missions were designed to test an intriguing phenomenon predicted by the theory of general relativity: the Lense-Thirring (frame-dragging) effect. In particular, the LARES 2 mission was designed with the goal of reaching an accuracy 10 times better than that obtained with LARES 1, launched 10 years earlier. To reach this demanding goal a special orbit and a specific satellite design was required. Knowledge of the gravitational field of Earth of ever-increasing accuracy, thanks to the Follow-on GRACE space mission together with the spectacular orbital injection accuracy provided by the Avio-ASI-ESA launcher VEGA C, will make possible an even better accuracy after a few years of data analysis. In this paper the two missions are compared along with the results obtained from the LARES 1 mission and those expected from LARES 2.Item The LARES 2 satellite, general relativity and fundamental physics(Springer, 2023-01-30) Ciufolini, Ignazio; Paolozzi, Antonio; Pavlis, Erricos C.; Ries, John C.; Matzner, Richard; Paris, Claudio; Ortore, Emiliano; Gurzadyan, Vahe; Penrose, RogerLARES 2, successfully launched on July 13, 2022, is a new generation laser-ranged satellite. LARES is an acronym for LAser RElativity Satellite. The first LARES satellite was successfully launched on February 13, 2012 with the ESA-ASI-AVIO launch vehicle VEGA. LARES 2 was injected with extremely high precision onto a high-altitude orbit at about 5900 km altitude with the new ESA-ASI-AVIO launch vehicle VEGA C. Laser-ranged satellites have many applications, including to test Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The main general relativistic phenomenon that LARES 2 will test with high accuracy is the dragging of inertial frames, or frame-dragging. It will also test other aspects and principles of fundamental physics and general relativity, such as the weak equivalence principle at the foundation of viable gravitational theories. Frame-dragging is the name Einstein himself gave in 1913 to an intriguing phenomenon of general relativity which implies that a current of mass-energy, such as the rotation of a body, will generate spacetime curvature. Frame-dragging has a key role in high energy astrophysics, e.g., in the generation of gravitational waves by the collision of two black holes to form a rotating black hole. Frame-dragging by the rotating Earth was measured to a few percent accuracy by combining the data of the satellites LARES, LAGEOS and LAGEOS 2 (Ciufolini et al. in Eur Phys J C 79:872, 2019). LARES 2, thanks to its extremely high injection precision, is projected to improve the test of frame-dragging by at least an order of magnitude. LARES 2 has also relevant applications in space geodesy and geodynamics, e.g., in the study of the shape of the Earth and in the determination of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) by improving the determination of the Earth center of mass and by contributing to a better determination of its rotation axis.Item A new laser-ranged satellite for General Relativity and space geodesy: I. An introduction to the LARES2 space experiment(Springer Nature, 2017-08-04) Ciufolini, Ignazio; Paolozzi, Antonio; Pavlis, Erricos C.; Sindoni, Giampiero; Koenig, Rolf; Ries, John C.; Matzner, Richard; Gurzadyan, Vahe; Penrose, Roger; Rubincam, David; Paris, ClaudioWe introduce the LARES 2 space experiment recently approved by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The LARES 2 satellite is planned for launch in 2019 with the new VEGA C launch vehicle of ASI, ESA and ELV. The orbital analysis of LARES 2 experiment will be carried out by our international science team of experts in General Relativity, theoretical physics, space geodesy and aerospace engineering. The main objectives of the LARES 2 experiment are gravitational and fundamental physics, including accurate measurements of General Relativity, in particular a test of frame-dragging aimed at achieving an accuracy of a few parts in a thousand, i.e., aimed at improving by about an order of magnitude the present state-of-the-art and forthcoming tests of this general relativistic phenomenon. LARES 2 will also achieve determinations in space geodesy. LARES 2 is an improved version of the LAGEOS 3 experiment, proposed in 1984 to measure frame-dragging and analyzed in 1989 by a joint ASI and NASA study.Item A new laser-ranged satellite for General Relativity and space geodesy: II. Monte Carlo simulations and covariance analyses of the LARES 2 experiment(Springer Nature, 2017-08-04) Ciufolini, Ignazio; Pavlis, Erricos C.; Sindoni, Giampiero; Ries, John C.; Paolozzi, Antonio; Matzner, Richard; Koenig, Rolf; Paris, ClaudiaIn the previous paper we have introduced the LARES 2 space experiment. The LARES 2 laser-ranged satellite is planned for a launch in 2019 with the new VEGA C launch vehicle of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), ESA and ELV. The main objectives of the LARES 2 experiment are accurate measurements of General Relativity, gravitational and fundamental physics and accurate determinations in space geodesy and geodynamics. In particular LARES 2 is aimed to achieve a very accurate test of frame-dragging, an intriguing phenomenon predicted by General Relativity. Here we report the results of Monte Carlo simulations and covariance analyses fully confirming an error budget of a few parts in one thousand in the measurement of frame-dragging with LARES 2 as calculated in our previous paper.