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starship-design: relativity experiments



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Contact: Jane Platt (818) 354-0880

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                             May
29, 2002

WAS EINSTEIN WRONG?  SPACE STATION RESEARCH MAY FIND OUT

     Ultra-precise clocks on the International Space Station and other
space missions may
determine whether Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity is
correct and could dramatically
change our understanding of the universe.

     The theory, introduced in 1905, holds that if an observer moves at
a uniform speed, no matter
how fast or in what direction, the laws of physics and the speed of
light are always the same. For
example, if you stand still and drop a coin, it will fall straight
down. Similarly, if you drop a coin
inside a car while you're driving down the freeway at a steady speed,
it will also fall straight down.

     However, recent theories attempting to combine gravity and
particle physics suggest that
relativity might not always apply; changes in space and time may occur
that could not be measured
easily on Earth.

     "The International Space Station will have ultra-sensitive clocks
on board, and it is a good
place to test the theory," said Dr. Alan Kostelecky, professor of
physics at Indiana University,
Bloomington. "By comparing extremely precise clocks that can operate
under zero gravity,
minuscule changes in the ticking rate might be found as the spacecraft
moves around Earth." This
would violate Einstein's theory, which says there should be no change
if different clocks in the same
gravity environment are compared.

     "Finding such ! changes would cause an upheaval in the science
community and revolutionize
our thinking about the fundamental structure of space and time," he
added. "It would lead to insight
about how our universe formed and how nature operates."

     Measurements in space have several advantages over ones on Earth
because the Earth's
rotation axis and its rotation rate are fixed. In space the orbital
axis of a satellite and its rotation rate
can be different, and higher speeds are possible. Measurements in space
would therefore be more
sensitive to minute changes that would violate Einstein's Theory of
Relativity.

     Kostelecky and his colleagues Robert Bluhm of Colby College,
Waterville, Me.; Charles
Lane of Berry College, Mount Berry, Ga.; and Neil Russell of Northern
Michigan University,
Marquette, propose using specific types of clocks on the space station.
For example, one type would
use a maser, a cousin of the laser. Instead of emitting light, like a
laser, the maser emits microwave
energy at a specific frequency, which produces a very specific ticking.

     Other types of clocks already planned for flight on the
International Space Station could be
used too. Upcoming missions include the Primary Atomic Reference Clock
in Space, the Rubidium
Atomic Clock Experiment and the Superconducting Microwave Oscillator.
All three are part of
NASA's Fundamental Physics Program. In addition, the Atomic Clock
Ensemble in Space will be
flown on the International Space Station by the European Space Agency.

     Kostelecky says clock experiments in space may yield other
intriguing results. For example,
they might provide evidence for string theory. Traditionally,
scientists have believed that the smallest
units in the universe are particles. However, advocates of string
theory believe the smallest uni! ts are < BR>elongated, like tiny pieces of string. In some string theories, empty
space has an intrinsic direction.
This could cause the clocks on the space station to tick at changing
rates, depending on their
orientation.

     In addition to the International Space Station, other future
missions may also test the Theory
of Relativity. The proposed SpaceTime mission would fly three clocks
past Jupiter, then would drop
the spacecraft rapidly in toward the Sun, like an extreme version of an
amusement park freefall ride.
The high speed of this NASA mission would make possible new kinds of
sensitive tests.

     The paper by Kostelecky and his colleagues appeared in the March 4
issue of the Physical
Review Letters. It is available online at: http://prola.aps.org volume
88, article 090801 for 2002.

     Animation of the proposed space station experiments is available
at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/sg/space_physics.html  and
http://physics.indiana.edu/~kostelec/mov.html .

     More information on the experiments and NASA's Fundamental Physics
Program can be
found at the following Web sites:

http://physics.indiana.edu/~kostelec/faq.html
http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov
http://funphysics.jpl.nasa.gov

     Kostelecky conducts research under NASA's Fundamental Physics in
Microgravity Research
Program, part of NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research,
Washington. NASA'S Jet
Propulsi! on Labor atory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California
Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, manages the Fundamental Physics program.



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