Speed of gravity experiments and space probe B

[juan avellaneda]

this is a great site for learning and discussing ideas...

well i have two questions
1. Whats the objetive of the mission space probe b?
was it launched yet?
2. Has been ever performed any experiment searching for the speed of gravity? (like fizeau's for light?)

 

[LURCH]

I think you may be referring to Gravity Probe B. GP-B, as it is called, will test a couple of predictions made by einstein's General Theory of Relativity. One of these is Frame Dragging, the idea that the gravitational influence of an object with mass can not only warp or bend spacetime, but in the case of a rotating object, spacetime may be spun, as well. It is officially scheduled to launch on April 17^th, 2004. You can sign up for weekly updates about the mission by going to majordomo@lists.Stanford.edu(you just upt the words "subscribe gpb-update" anywhere in the body of the e-mail) , I did !

It will not test the speed of gravity, but LIGO will. More accurately, it will look for gravity waves traveling at lightspeed. If they travel at any other speed, I suppose it won't find them at all.

 

[juan avellaneda]

gpb

ok lurch thanks for your valuable information