Lorenzo Iorio and Herbert I M Lichtenegger 2005 Class. Quantum Grav. 22 119 doi:10.1088/0264-9381/22/1/008
Lorenzo Iorio1 and Herbert I M Lichtenegger2
Show affiliationsIn this paper the effect of the post-Newtonian gravitomagnetic force on the mean longitudes l of a pair of counter-rotating Earth artificial satellites following almost identical circular equatorial orbits is investigated and the possibility of measuring it is examined. The observable is the difference of the times required for l to pass from 0 to 2π for both senses of motion. Such a gravitomagnetic time shift, which is independent of the orbital parameters of the satellites, amounts to 5×10−7 s for the Earth; it is cumulative and should be measurable after a sufficiently high number of revolutions. The major limiting factors are the unavoidable imperfect cancellation of the Keplerian periods, which yields a constraint of 10−2 cm in knowing the difference between the semimajor axes a of the satellites, and the difference I of the inclinations i of the orbital planes which, for i ~ 0.01°, should be less than 0.006°. A pair of spacecraft endowed with a sophisticated intersatellite tracking apparatus and drag-free control down to 10-9 cm s-2 Hz-1/2 level might allow us to meet the stringent requirements posed by such a mission.
Issue 1 (7 January 2005)
Received 29 January 2004, in final form 18 October 2004
Published 7 December 2004
Lorenzo Iorio and Herbert I M Lichtenegger 2005 Class. Quantum Grav. 22 119
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