OPTIS SATELLITE MISSION FOR IMPROVED TESTS OF SPECIAL AND GENERAL RELATIVITY - CONCEPT FOR A TECHNOLOGY REFERENCE MISSION

摘要

Science goals: The mission OPTIS aims at testing the foundations of Special and General Relativity by up to three orders of improvement. That is 1. the isotropy and 2. constancy of the speed of light, 3. the time dilation (or Doppler effect), 4. the universality of the gravitational red shift, with various combinations of high precision clocks. Furthermore, laser tracking allows 5. a much improved test of the Lense-Thirring effect, 6. of the perigee advance and 7. a search for a Yukawa part in the Newtonian potential. Preconditions: Basic for the performance of this mission is the availablility of that technologies which have been used to carry through the most precise tests of Special Relativity. The precision of these tests can be increased under space conditions with longer integration times, larger changes of velocities and differences of the gravitational potential. Furthermore, very precise laser tracking and linking of satellites is a well established technique and will provide, in combination with the active drag-free control system, very acurate orbit data. The technologies: The mission OPTIS is to be caried through using the newest technologies like 1. optical cavities, 2. highly stabilized lasers, 3. capacitive gravitational reference sensors, 4. drag-free control, 5. ion clocks, 6. frequency combs, 7. laser tracking systems. These technologies are also key technologies for other future missions.