[FPSPACE] FW: Gravity Probe B Update --September 26, 2008

[LARRY KLAES]

>From: Bob Kahn <kahn at relgyro.stanford.edu>
>To: gpb-update at lists.stanford.edu
>Subject: Gravity Probe B Update --September 26, 2008
>Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:12:32 -0700
>
>================================
>GP-B STATUS UPDATE -- September 26, 2008
>================================
>
>Since our May 23rd status update, GP-B has continued to make significant 
>progress--fiscal and scientific. NASA funding and sponsorship of the 
>program ends on September 30, 2008, but GP-B has secured alternative 
>funding that will enable our science team to continue working at least 
>through December 2009 in order to complete the data analysis and bring GP-B 
>to a proper close.
>
>The GP-B science team is continuing to make large strides in the data 
>analysis. On Friday, August 29, 2008, the 18th meeting of our external GP-B 
>Science Advisory Committee was held at Stanford to report our progress 
>since the previous SAC meeting in November 2007. The ensuing SAC report to 
>NASA states:
>
>      "The progress reported at SAC-18 was truly extraordinary and we
>      commend the GPB team for this achievement. This has been a heroic
>      effort, and has brought the experiment from what seemed like a state
>      of potential failure, to a position where the SAC now believes that 
>they
>      will obtain a credible test of relativity, even if the accuracy does 
>not
>      meet the original goal. In the opinion of the SAC Chair, this rescue
>      warrants comparison with the mission to correct the flawed optics     
>  of the Hubble Space Telescope, only here at a minuscule fraction
>      of the cost." --SAC #18 Report to NASA
>
>On October 6-10, six GP-B team members have been invited to present these 
>dramatically improved, interim results at an International Space Science 
>Institute (ISSI) workshop on "The Nature of Gravity: Confronting Theory and 
>Experiment in Space" to be held in Bern, Switzerland. Following the Berne 
>workshop, these improved interim results will undergo a thorough 
>peer-review and vetting; then towards the end of this year, we plan to 
>announce them publicly.
>
>We very much appreciate your continued interest in GP-B, and we will keep 
>you posted on our progress in future status updates.
>
>===================
>PREVIOUS GP-B UPDATES
>===================
>If you wish to read any of our previous updates, our GP-B Web site includes 
>a chronological archive of all the updates/highlights (with photos and 
>drawings) that we have posted over the past 8 years: 
>http://einstein.stanford.edu/highlights/hlindexmain.html
>
>=============================
>OTHER LINKS THAT MAY INTEREST YOU
>=============================
>
>Our NEW AND IMPROVED GP-B Web site, http://einstein.stanford.edu contains 
>lots of information about the Gravity Probe B experiment, general 
>relativity, and the amazing technologies that were developed to carry out 
>this experiment.
>
>Video and/or audio of May 18, 2006 public lecture by Principal 
>Investigator, Professor Francis Everitt, on GP-B. You can view a Flash 
>video of the lecture in your Web browser: 
>http://einstein.stanford.edu/Media/Everitt_Brainstorm-flash.html You can 
>also download either a video or audio only copy of the lecture to an iPod 
>from the Stanford University iTunes U Web site: http://itunes.stanford.edu, 
>This Web page automatically launches the Apple iTunes program on both 
>Macintosh and Windows computers, with a special Stanford on iTunes U "music 
>store," containing free downloads of Stanford lectures, performances, and 
>events. Francis Everitt's "Testing Einstein in Space" lecture is located in 
>the Faculty Lectures section. People with audio-only iPods can download the 
>version under the Audio tab; people with 5th generation (video) iPodfs can 
>download the version under the Video tab.
>
>Visual tour of the GP-B spacecraft and payload from our GP-B Web site: 
>http://einstein.stanford.edu/content/vehicle_tour/index.html
>
>PDF file containing a 1/20 scale, paper model of the GP-B spacecraft that 
>you can download  print out, and assemble: 
>http://einstein.stanford.edu/content/paper_model.
>
>NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center also has a series of Web pages devoted 
>to GP-B:  http://www.gravityprobeb.com
>
>The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Cambridge) and York 
>University (Toronto), with contributions from the Observatoire de Paris, 
>have been studying the motions of the guide star, IM Pegasi for over a 
>decade.  To find out more, visit: http://www.yorku.ca/bartel/guidestar/. In 
>addition, you'll find information in the Extraordinary Technologies 
>page-Telescope & Guide Star section on our Web site: 
>http://einstein.stanford.edu/TECH/technology1.html#telescope
>
>==========================
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>==========================
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>--
>**********************************
>NASA - Stanford - Lockheed Martin
>    Gravity Probe B Program
>"Testing Einstein's Universe"
>  http://einstein.stanford.edu
>
>Bob Kahn
>Public Affairs Coordinator
>
>Phone: 650-723-2540
>Fax:   650-723-3494
>Email: kahn at relgyro.stanford.edu
>**********************************

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