Related papers: Experimental evidence of the ether-dragging hypoth…

Current GNSS systems rely on global reference frames which are fixed to the Earth (via the ground stations) so their precision and stability in time are limited by our knowledge of the Earth dynamics. These drawbacks could be avoided by…

In this Note, a new approach to spacecraft positioning based on GGT inversion is presented. The gravity gradient tensor is initially measured in the gradiometer reference frame (GRF) and then transformed to the Earth-Centered Earth-Fixed…

Today, the Global Navigation Satellite Systems, used as global positioning systems, are the GPS and the GLONASS. They are based on a Newtonian model and hence they are only operative when several relativistic effects are taken into account.…

We calculate the special and general relativistic effects of the Global Positioning System (GPS), especially the effects depending on the small deviation of the orbit from the circular one. This effect is well known but, to our knowledge,…

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…

Relativity is an integral part of positioning systems, and this is taken into account in today's practice by applying many "relativistic corrections" to computations performed using concepts borrowed from Galilean physics. A different,…

Modern ether-drift experiments in vacuum could in principle detect the tiny refractive index that, in a flat-space picture of gravity, is appropriate for an apparatus placed on the Earth's surface. In this picture, in fact, if there were a…

A generalized definition of a frame of reference in spaces with affine connections and metrics is proposed based on the set of the following differential-geometric objects: (a) a non-null (non-isotropic) vector field, (b) the orthogonal to…

As gravity is a long-range force, one might a priori expect the Universe's global matter distribution to select a preferred rest frame for local gravitational physics. At the post-Newtonian approximation, two parameters suffice to describe…

We report on a new test of the gravitational redshift and thus of local position invariance, an integral part of the Einstein equivalence principle, which is the foundation of general relativity and all metric theories of gravitation. We…

Models with extra space-time dimensions produce, tipically, a 4D effective theory whose vacuum is not exactly Lorentz invariant but can be considered a physical medium whose refractive index is determined by the gravitational field. This…

Reference systems and frames are crucial for high precision absolute astrometric work, and their foundations must be well-defined. The current frame, the International Celestial Reference Frame, will be discussed: its history, the use of…

In order to establish the position of the center of mass of the Earth in the International Celestial Reference Frame, observations of the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) constellation using the IVS network are important. With a good…

The discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe, thought to be driven by a mysterious form of `dark energy' constituting most of the Universe, has further revived the interest in testing Einstein's theory of General Relativity.…

We construct a set of reference frames for description of the orbital and rotational motion of the Moon. We use a scalar-tensor theory of gravity depending on two parameters of the parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism and utilize the…

Motivated by the critical remarks of several authors, we have re-analyzed the classical ether-drift experiments with the conclusion that the small observed deviations should not be neglected. In fact, within the framework of Lorentzian…

The relativity of Global Positioning System (GPS) pseudorange measurements is explored within the geometrical optics approximation in the curved space-time near Earth. A space-time grid for navigation is created by the discontinuities…

A 4-dimensional relativistic positioning system for a general spacetime is constructed by using the so called "emission coordinates". The results apply in a small region around the world line of an accelerated observer carrying a Fermi…

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 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…