Does anybody know why
"STEP" mission was canceled, and if any similar one is planned for next years?
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STEP will advance the testing of the Equivalence Principle from several parts in 1013 to 1 part in 1018. Whether it confirms Equivalence five to six orders of magnitude more precisely than known today or discovers a violation, it will be a landmark experiment in Fundamental Physics, with consequences extending from gravitation theory to cosmology to theories of the evolution of the Universe. It will probe a large and otherwise inaccessible domain in the parameter space of new interactions. A null result would remain for many years a severe constraint on new theories. A positive result would constitute the discovery of a new force of Nature.
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