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arXiv · 1910.13818

A new laser-ranged satellite for General Relativity and space geodesy: I. An introduction to the LARES2 space experiment

Ignazio Ciufolini·Antonio Paolozzi·Erricos C. Pavlis·Giampiero Sindoni·Rolf Koenig·John C. Ries·Richard Matzner·Vahe Gurzadyan·Roger Penrose·David Rubincam·Claudio Paris
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Abstract

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 experiment will be carried out by our international science team of experts in General Relativity, theoretical physics, space geodesy and aerospace engineering. The main objectives of the LARES 2 experiment are gravitational and fundamental physics, including accurate measurements of General Relativity, in particular a test of frame-dragging aimed at achieving an accuracy of a few parts in a thousand, i.e., aimed at improving by about an order of magnitude the present state-of-the-art and forthcoming tests of this general relativistic phenomenon. LARES 2 will also achieve determinations in space geodesy. LARES 2 is an improved version of the LAGEOS 3 experiment, proposed in 1984 to measure frame-dragging and analyzed in 1989 by a joint ASI and NASA study.

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Ignazio Ciufolini, Antonio Paolozzi, Erricos C. Pavlis, Giampiero Sindoni, Rolf Koenig, John C. Ries, Richard Matzner, Vahe Gurzadyan, Roger Penrose, David Rubincam, Claudio Paris. 2019-10-25. A new laser-ranged satellite for General Relativity and space geodesy: I. An introduction to the LARES2 space experiment. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp%2Fi2017-11635-1

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