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

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

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6.3.1.2 Engineering Development Dewar & Science Mission DewarFigure 6-5. Left: Engineering Development Dewar (EDD); Middle & Right: Science Mission Dewar (SMD).The dewar is a thermos-like reservoir that holds the supply of liquid helium to maintain the <strong>Probe</strong> at a tightlyspecifiedcryogenic temperature for 16 months or more. Once filled, the dewar was never allowed to warm up,because it included a special lead-bag that formed a superconducting magnetic shield which was an integral partof the dewar well and was required for the experiment. The prototypical Engineering Development Dewar notonly allowed early integrated-system testing, but also was the vehicle for early development of the critical probedewarintegration procedure. Figure 6-5 shows various views of the Science Mission Dewar or SMD.6.3.1.3 Spherical Gyroscopes and Gyro Suspension SystemFigure 6-6. Gyroscope rotor development and precision sphericity measurement.Several types of gyros were prototyped, including ceramic, fused quartz engineering model, prototype/shuttle,and the final flight gyros. The gyros had to sustain heavy flight vibration environments, while maintaining theirperfect shape for the experiment. Figure 6-6 shows some of the gyro rotors in various stages of development andtesting.The Gyro Suspension System (GSS), that electrostatically suspends the science gyroscopes within their housingcavities and enables them to spin freely with minimal friction and torque. To perform its mission successfully,the GSS had to satisfy a number of requirements: Operate over 8 orders of force magnitude, suspend or levitatethe gyroscopes reliably, operate compatibly with the SQUID readout system, minimize electrostatic torquesduring science data collection, apply controlled torques to the rotor for calibration and initial rotor spin-axis<strong>Gravity</strong> <strong>Probe</strong> B — <strong>Post</strong> <strong>Flight</strong> Analysis • Final <strong>Report</strong> March 2007 151

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