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“Galileo Galilei” (GG) a small satellite to test the equivalence principle of Galileo, Newton and Einstein

2009; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 23; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/s10686-008-9128-3

1572-9508

A. M. Nobili, G. L. Comandi, S. Doravari, D. Bramanti, R. Kumar, Francesco Maccarrone, E. Polacco, Slava G. Turyshev, Michael Shao, J. A. Lipa, H. Dittus, Claus Laemmerzhal, Achim Peters, Jurgen Mueller, C. S. Unnikrishnan, I. W. Roxburgh, A. Brillet, Christian Marchal, Jun Luo, Jozef van der Ha, V. K. Milyukov, V. Iafolla, David Lucchesi, Paolo Tortora, P. de Bernardis, F. Palmonari, Sergio M. Focardi, D. Zanello, S. Monaco, Giovanni Mengali, Luciano Anselmo, Lorenzo Iorio, Zoran Knežević,

Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research

"Galileo Galilei" (GG) is a small satellite designed to fly in low Earth orbit with the goal of testing the Equivalence Principle—which is at the basis of the General Theory of Relativity—to 1 part in 1017. If successful, it would improve current laboratory results by 4 orders of magnitude. A confirmation would strongly constrain theories; proof of violation is believed to lead to a scientific revolution. The experiment design allows it to be carried out at ambient temperature inside a small 1-axis stabilized satellite (250 kg total mass). GG is under investigation at Phase A-2 level by ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana) at Thales Alenia Space in Torino, while a laboratory prototype (known as GGG) is operational at INFN laboratories in Pisa, supported by INFN (Istituto Nazionale di fisica Nucleare) and ASI. A final study report will be published in 2009.