Lab Upgrade and LARES 3

Abstract

The “Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale” (SIA) of Sapienza has a facility for thermovacuum and optical testing of space components and small satellites. It is a facility with an optical bench on the side that allows the assessment of the performances of optical components while exposed to a simulated space environment. It has been designed at SIA during the development of the LARES satellite program of the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The present proposal has three objectives: (1) to advance the SIA thermovacuum testing capabilities by adding to the conventional sensors the Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors; (2) to measure the Far Field Diffraction Pattern (FFDP) of the LARES 2 Cube Corner Reflectors (they will be also called in short CCRs or retroreflectors) of 1 inch and to compare them with those of 0.5 and 2 inches diameter; (3) to verify their suitability for a laser ranged satellite in lunar orbit. If the tests will be satisfactory we will then propose to ASI and ESA the LARES 3 mission to the Moon. The research group of this proposal has the responsibility for the design, optical testing and orbital determination of the previous LARES and LARES 2 satellites. Those two satellites were designed for the verification of frame-dragging of General Relativity (GR) while LARES 3 will be exploited to improve the measurement of another fundamental law of GR: the Strong Equivalence Principle (SEP). It is expected that SEP violation will open the way to alternative theories of GR because a violation of SEP would imply a different contribution of the gravitational binding energy of a body to its inertial mass Mi and to its gravitational mass Mg. If LARES 3 will be launched, the orbit determination will be performed from the data acquired through the well-established technique of lunar laser ranging. This proposal will contribute significantly not only to support the possible approval of the LARES 3 mission but also to the use of FBG sensors for space applications.





Contacts and Location

Location: Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale - Sapienza University of Rome
Via Salaria 851, 00138 Rome - Italy.

Contacts:
Antonio Paolozzi. e-mail: antonio.paolozzi@uniroma1.it

Claudio Paris. e-mail: claudio.paris@uniroma1.it

Telephone: +39 06 49919767 - 769