NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
(abstract) Spacecraft Doppler Tracking with the Deep Space Network in the Search for Gravitational WavesThe Deep Space Network generates accurate radio science data observables for investigators who use radio links between spacecraft and the Earth to examine small changes in the phase and/or amplitude of the signal to study a wide variety of structures and phenomena in space. Several such studies are directed at aspects of the theory of general relativity such as gravitational redshift and gravitational waves. A gravitational wave is a propagating, polarized gravitational field, a ripple in the curvature of space-time. In Einstein's theory of general relativity, the waves are propagating solutions of the Einstein field equations. Their amplitudes are dimensionless strain amplitudes that change the fractional difference in distance between test masses and the rates at which separated clocks keep time. Predicted by all relativistic theories of gravity, they are extremely weak (the ratio of gravitational forces to electrical forces is about 10(sup -40)) and are generated at detectable levels only by astrophysical sources - very massive sources under violent dynamical conditions. The waves have never been detected but searches in the low-frequency band using Doppler tracking of many spacecraft have been conducted and others are being planned. Upper limits have been placed on the gravitational wave strength with the best sensitivities to date are for periodic waves being 7 x 10(sup -15).
Document ID
20060037950
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Asmar, Sami
Renzetti, Nicholas
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
September 12, 1994
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
gravitational waves theory of general relativity Doppler Deep Space Network
radio signals spacecraft

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available