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- Title
Mars and frame-dragging: study for a dedicated mission.
- Authors
Lorenzo Iorio
- Abstract
Abstract In this paper, we preliminarily explore the possibility of designing a dedicated satellite-based mission to measure the general relativistic gravitomagnetic Lense–Thirring effect in the gravitational field of Mars. The focus is on the systematic uncertainty induced by the multipolar expansion of the areopotential and on possible strategies to reduce it. It turns out that the major sources of bias are the Mars’equatorial radius R and the even zonal harmonics J ℓ, ℓ = 2, 4, 6, . . . of the areopotential. An optimal solution, in principle, consists of using two probes at high-altitudes (a ≈ 9,500–9,600 km) and different inclinations (one probe should fly in a nearly polar orbit), and suitably combining their nodes in order to entirely cancel out the bias due to δ R. The remaining uncancelled mismodelled terms due to δ J ℓ, ℓ = 2, 4, 6, . . . would induce a bias ≲ 1%, according to the present-day MGS95J gravity model, over a wide range of admissible values of the inclinations. The Lense–Thirring out-of-plane shifts of the two probes would amount to about 10 cm year−1.
- Subjects
ASTRONOMY; ELECTRICAL harmonics; MARTIAN gravity; GRAVITATIONAL fields
- Publication
General Relativity & Gravitation, 2009, Vol 41, Issue 6, p1273
- ISSN
0001-7701
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10714-008-0704-7