GP-B Post-Flight Analysis—Final Report - Gravity Probe B - Stanford ...

MSFC conducted an in-house Phase A study of GP-B in preparation for defining a flight program in 1980. Laterthat year, under the chairmanship of Jeffrey Rosendhal at NASA Headquarters, NASA convened a specialcommittee to assess the technological readiness of GP-B for becoming a NASA flight mission. The RosendhalCommittee concluded that:…the remarkable technical accomplishments of the dedicated Stanford experiment team giveus confidence that, when they are combined with a strong engineering team in a flightdevelopment program, this difficult experiment can be done.By 1981, Francis Everitt had become the single person most knowledgeable about all aspects of the GP-Bexperiment. For this reason, he was promoted to the job of Principal Investigator, challenged with bringing theexperiment to fruition—a job that would ultimately take another 25 years to accomplish. Encouraged by theresults of the 1980 Phase A study, MSFC, with support from Stanford, undertook a much more in-depth PhaseB study in 1982. The Phase B study yielded a spacecraft that was too large and a program that was too expensive,with an unacceptable level of risk. Thus, in 1983, Everitt and the Stanford team, in collaboration with MSFC,undertook an extensive restructuring of the program, with a goal of reducing the weight and powerrequirements of the spacecraft, reducing overall costs, and reducing program risks to an acceptable level—allwithout sacrificing any essential science goals.The result of this restructuring effort was a two-phase Space Shuttle mission. The first phase was to be atechnology readiness demonstration called STORE (Shuttle Test of the Relativity Experiment). In this phase, thedewar and science instrument would be tested during a shuttle flight to be launched in 1989. At the end of thetest, this equipment would be brought back to Earth by the shuttle, refurbished, and then integrated into asatellite for performing the actual experiment. Two years later, the GP-B satellite would be placed in orbit by apolar-orbiting Shuttle, which could be launched only from NASA's West Coast Shuttle Facility at VandenbergAFB, in Southern California.6.2.5 GP-B Formalizes Program ManagementShortly after becoming Principal Investigator in 1981, Everitt realized that he was going to need a person withstrong aerospace engineering background to help him manage the unique technology development challengesfacing GP-B. In 1982, he began trying to recruit Bradford Parkinson (1966 Stanford Aero-Astro Ph.D whosedissertation research on spherical gyroscopes was carried out in the early GP-B labs) to return to Stanford fromprivate industry to serve as both a Co-PI and the first formal Program Manager of GP-B. Parkinson is creditedwith creating the U.S. Air Force Global Positioning System (GPS) and had previously been Program Managerfor its successful deployment. This experience, coupled with his aerospace background, ideally suited him forthis new position. Parkinson agreed to serve as a consultant to GP-B until NASA funding for the GP-B flightprogram was imminent, and then to come on board as Program Manager and Co-PI of GP-B. In the interimperiod, Everitt recruited Robert Farnsworth to move to Stanford from the University of California, San Diego,where he had been managing other aerospace engineering projects and to serve as Deputy/Acting ProgramManager until Parkinson arrived.By 1984, with the newly restructured two-phase Shuttle-based plan completed, the stage was set for NASA tofund the GP-B flight program and for Parkinson to assume the role of GP-B Program Manager and Co-PI.Concurrently, Cannon, then chairman of Stanford's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, offeredParkinson a full professorship in that department—an equally strong incentive for Parkinson to return toStanford. For about a year, Farnsworth served as Deputy Program Manager under Parkinson. He then accepteda new position as Associate Director of Stanford's Hansen Experimental Physics Lab (HEPL), under whoseauspices the GP-B program was administered at Stanford. Farnsworth remained Associate Director of HEPLuntil his retirement some years later.146 March 2007 Chapter 6 — The GP-B Management Experiment