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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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shields) and subsequent instability in the bath temperature that will disturb the vapor equilibrationprocess. Even in a system such as ours, where the vent rate is actively controlled, the long-term stability israrely adequate due to environmental variation over various time scales (roll, orbital, diurnal) and due toelectronics and sensor drift.Figure 12-9. HPM data analyzed under three different assumptions together with extrapolated linear trendlines.12.10 Magnetic Shielding PerformanceThis section describes two aspects of <strong>GP</strong>-B’s magnetic shielding performance that are related to the cryogenicsystem: trapped flux in the gyro rotors and AC shielding.12.10.1 Rotor Trapped Flux<strong>GP</strong>-B has a unique magnetic shield system that provides an ultra-low magnetic field environment for thescience instrument. Considerable effort was also made to ensure that the materials used in constructing the<strong>Probe</strong> and the science instrument did not degrade this environment. The primary reason for this requirement isthe need to keep the magnetic flux in the gyro rotors below 9 microgauss (0.9 nT) uniform field equivalent.The trapped flux in the gyro rotors measured on orbit is smaller than 4 μG for all gyroscopes as shown inTable 12-2. (The readout system is only capable of measuring the component of trapped flux that threads thepickup loop and varies in time as the rotor rotates.) The trapped field in gyro 4 is more than an order ofmagnitude smaller. The table also compares the trapped field to the magnitude of the equivalent Londonmoment field for each rotor. These results indicate that the superconducting shield is nominal and that therewas no degradation of the shield as a result of launch conditions.348 March 2007 Chapter 12 — Cryogenic Subsystem Analysis

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