Re: .....Revealing If Einstein Was Right [again]

Putting Relativity To The Test, NASA's Gravity Probe B Experiment
Is One Step Away From Revealing If Einstein Was Right

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051007100202.htm

Almost 90 years after Einstein postulated his general theory of
relativity -- our current theory of gravity -- scientists have finally
finished collecting the data that will put this theory to an
experimental test. For the past 17 months, NASA's Gravity Probe-B
(GP-B) satellite has been orbiting the Earth using four ultra-precise
gyroscopes, about a million times better than the finest navigational
gyroscopes, to generate the data required for this unprecedented test.
As planned, the helium that cooled the experiment and powered its
micro-thrusters has run out, ending the data-collection and final
instrument calibration phase of the experiment. All the data\u201450
weeks' worth\u2014has been downloaded from the spacecraft and relayed
to computers in the GP-B Mission Operations Center at Stanford
University, where GP-B scientists have begun the final painstaking task
of data analysis and validation. Was Einstein correct? They won't know
for another 15 months, when the analysis has been completed, but
physicists around the world are eagerly awaiting the results.

"This has been a tremendous mission for all of us," said Stanford's
Francis Everitt, GP-B's principal investigator. "Gravity Probe B
presented many challenges along the way and the team rose magnificently
to every occasion. With all the data now gathered, we are now
proceeding very deliberately over the next 15 months to make sure that
everything is checked and re-checked in as many ways as possible. NASA
and Stanford can be proud of what has been achieved so far."

See: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051007100202.htm