I, for one, am glad we will explore the science of the Space-Time Continuum in my lifetime. Yet another Star Trek science fiction concept being probed for its science fact! Anybody else have comments or hopes?
Europe Probe to detect ripples in space time
Khaleej Times4 Dec 2015
Berlin — The European Space Agency launched a rocket on Thursday carrying two cubes of gold and platinum almost a million miles from Earth so scientists can see how they’ll behave in a freefall — at a cost of more than $450 million.
What may sound like a frivolous enterprise is actually the prelude to a far more ambitious mission that hopes to measure ripples in space time caused by black holes and other massive objects lurking unseen in dark corners of the galaxy.
Also known as gravitational waves, these ripples were predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago but have never been directly detected.
In order for that mission — tentatively scheduled for launch in 2034 — to succeed, the European Space Agency first has to test whether it can shield objects from external influences well enough to measure the minute effects of gravitational waves.
“We want to see whether we can create an environment in orbit that’s free of interference, and where we can conduct these highprecision measurements,” said Michael Menking, senior vicepresident for Earth observation, navigation and science at Airbus Defense and Space. The company is the main technology contractor on the LISA Pathfinder mission.
The probe separated from the Vega rocket two hours after its launch from ESA’s space port in French Guiana at 1.04 am local time on Thursday. “We have a mission,” project scientist Paul McNamara said to cheers and hugs at the control rooms in Kourou and Darmstadt, Germany, after receiving the first signal from the spacecraft.
By mid-January, the probe will have reached an orbit about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, where the pull from the planet’s gravity is balanced by that of the sun. The cubes — made from gold and platinum to reduce their susceptibility to magnetic fields — are then carefully released inside a box that shields them from cosmic particles and other interference that might affect the measurements performed by a sensitive laser. The laser is capable of detecting movements of less than 10 millionths of a millionth of a meter.
“Our biggest enemy is the light from the sun that hits the satellite and pushes it around,” said Oliver Jennrich, a scientist working on the LISA Pathfinder mission.
To counter this, the satellite uses NASA-supplied thrusters capable of making tiny corrections to the probe’s position to keep it in the right orbit and prevent the free-falling cubes from crashing into the inside of the box. This should provide a near-perfect cosmic isolation chamber to measure the effect of gravitational waves, said Jennrich.
The LISA Pathfinder mission itself won’t detect any gravitational waves, though. — Owning $77,000 puts you into the world’s top 10 per cent* Billionaires with interest in fossil fuel activities Top 50 per cent *Economist, October 2014 2010 2015
Europe Probe to detect ripples in space time
Khaleej Times4 Dec 2015
Berlin — The European Space Agency launched a rocket on Thursday carrying two cubes of gold and platinum almost a million miles from Earth so scientists can see how they’ll behave in a freefall — at a cost of more than $450 million.
What may sound like a frivolous enterprise is actually the prelude to a far more ambitious mission that hopes to measure ripples in space time caused by black holes and other massive objects lurking unseen in dark corners of the galaxy.
Also known as gravitational waves, these ripples were predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago but have never been directly detected.
In order for that mission — tentatively scheduled for launch in 2034 — to succeed, the European Space Agency first has to test whether it can shield objects from external influences well enough to measure the minute effects of gravitational waves.
“We want to see whether we can create an environment in orbit that’s free of interference, and where we can conduct these highprecision measurements,” said Michael Menking, senior vicepresident for Earth observation, navigation and science at Airbus Defense and Space. The company is the main technology contractor on the LISA Pathfinder mission.
The probe separated from the Vega rocket two hours after its launch from ESA’s space port in French Guiana at 1.04 am local time on Thursday. “We have a mission,” project scientist Paul McNamara said to cheers and hugs at the control rooms in Kourou and Darmstadt, Germany, after receiving the first signal from the spacecraft.
By mid-January, the probe will have reached an orbit about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, where the pull from the planet’s gravity is balanced by that of the sun. The cubes — made from gold and platinum to reduce their susceptibility to magnetic fields — are then carefully released inside a box that shields them from cosmic particles and other interference that might affect the measurements performed by a sensitive laser. The laser is capable of detecting movements of less than 10 millionths of a millionth of a meter.
“Our biggest enemy is the light from the sun that hits the satellite and pushes it around,” said Oliver Jennrich, a scientist working on the LISA Pathfinder mission.
To counter this, the satellite uses NASA-supplied thrusters capable of making tiny corrections to the probe’s position to keep it in the right orbit and prevent the free-falling cubes from crashing into the inside of the box. This should provide a near-perfect cosmic isolation chamber to measure the effect of gravitational waves, said Jennrich.
The LISA Pathfinder mission itself won’t detect any gravitational waves, though. — Owning $77,000 puts you into the world’s top 10 per cent* Billionaires with interest in fossil fuel activities Top 50 per cent *Economist, October 2014 2010 2015
