Related papers: Testing General Relativity and gravitational physi…
According to General Relativity, as distinct from Newtonian gravity, motion under gravity is treated by a theory that deals, initially, only with test particles. At the same time, satellite measurements deal with extended bodies. We discuss…
Current observations of the universe have strengthened the interest to further test General Relativity and other theories of fundamental physics. After an introduction to the phenomenon of frame-dragging predicted by Einstein's theory of…
Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard theory of gravity, especially where the needs of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and fundamental physics are concerned. As such, this theory is used for many practical purposes…
Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard theory of gravity, especially where the needs of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and fundamental physics are concerned. As such, this theory is used for many practical purposes…
The LARES (LAser RElativity Satellite) satellite was successfully launched in February 2012. The LARES space experiment is based on the orbital determinations of the laser ranged satellites LARES, LAGEOS (LAser GEOdynamics Satellite) and…
The most simple observed cases of gravitational lensing of distant quasars and galaxies by galaxies and clusters of galaxies are used to test Einstein's theory of General Relativity and Newtonian Gravity over galactic and intergalactic…
In this work some aspects of the detection of certain general relativistic effects in the weak gravitational field of the Earth via laser-ranged data to some existing or proposed geodetic satellites are examined. The focus is on the…
Satellite laser-ranging is successfully used in space geodesy, geodynamics and Earth sciences; and to test fundamental physics and specific features of General Relativity. We present a confirmation to approximately one part in a billion of…
The accuracy reached in the past few years by Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) allows for measuring even tiny features of the Earth's gravitational field predicted by Einstein's General Relativity by means of artificial satellites. The…
The new geodetic satellite LARES 2, cousin of LAGEOS and sharing with it almost the same orbital parameters apart from the inclination, displaced by 180 deg, was launched last year. Its proponents suggest using the sum of the nodes of…
We review the experimental evidence for Einstein's special and general relativity. A variety of high precision null experiments verify the weak equivalence principle and local Lorentz invariance, while gravitational redshift and other clock…
Recently, Ciufolini et al. reported on a test of the general relativistic gravitomagnetic Lense-Thirring effect by analyzing about 3.5 years of laser ranging data to the LAGEOS, LAGEOS II, LARES geodetic satellites orbiting the Earth. By…
The laser-tracked geodetic satellites LAGEOS, LAGEOS II and LARES are currently employed, among other things, to measure the general relativistic Lense-Thirring effect in the gravitomagnetic field of the spinning Earth with the hope of…
In 2016, we published "A test of general relativity using the LARES and LAGEOS satellites and a GRACE Earth gravity model. Measurement of Earth's dragging of inertial frames [1]", a measurement of frame-dragging, a fundamental prediction of…
We report the improved test of frame-dragging, an intriguing phenomenon predicted by Einstein's General Relativity, obtained using 7 years of Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) data of the satellite LARES (ASI, 2012) and 26 years of SLR data of…
We introduce the LARES 2 space experiment recently approved by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The LARES 2 satellite is planned for launch in 2019 with the new VEGA C launch vehicle of ASI, ESA and ELV. The orbital analysis of LARES 2…
We present a test of General Relativity, the measurement of the Earth's dragging of inertial frames. Our result is obtained using about 3.5 years of laser-ranged observations of the LARES, LAGEOS and LAGEOS 2 laser-ranged satellites…
On February 13th 2012, the LARES satellite of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) was launched into orbit with the qualification flight of the new VEGA launcher of the European Space Agency (ESA). The payload was released very accurately in the…
Rotation of a body, according to Einstein's theory of general relativity, generates a "force" on other matter; in Newton's gravitational theory only the mass of a body produces a force. This phenomenon, due to currents of mass, is known as…
The nature of gravity is fundamental to our understanding of our own solar system, the galaxy and the structure and evolution of the Universe. Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard model that is used for almost ninety…