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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 ...

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

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Figure 15-10. A poster on the evidence for patch effects to be presented at the APS meeting in April 2007.You can view/download a larger and more readable PDF version of this poster on our <strong>GP</strong>-B APS Web page:http://einstein.stanford.edu/content/aps_posters#posters.Given the almost perfectly spherical and homogeneous nature of the <strong>GP</strong>-B gyro rotors, there are twopossibilities:1. Internal energy dissipation in the gyro rotors2. External torques with just the right frequencyEarly in the data analysis phase, we thought that some kind of internal energy dissipation was the cause.However, adding the variation in spin-down rates to the analysis, we currently believe that both mechanismslisted above are involved and that the underlying cause is “patch effect charges” on the gyro rotors and on theinside surfaces of their housings. Patch charges arise from varying surface electrical potentials in polycrystallinematerials from regions of changing crystal orientations over the surface of the metal, or due to non-uniformdistribution of constituent elements in a metal alloy, or can arise due to the presence of contaminants on themetal surface.The sputtered niobium coatings on <strong>GP</strong>-B gyro rotors are naturally polycrystalline and thus inherently exhibitpatch charge effects. These charges impart some potential on the six electrodes that suspend each gyro in itshousing which causes a minute dissipation of energy as the rotor spins. This produces a small torque on the rotoras the energy is dissipated into the gyro housing, causing the spin rate of the gyro to slow down slightly, and alsocausing the polhode motion to be damped out over the mission.We were well aware of the possible ramifications of electrostatic patches on the gyro rotors prior to launch, andwe made a thorough investigation of them. In fact, a <strong>GP</strong>-B post-doctoral student carefully studied the effects ofelectrostatic patches on the gyro rotors and concluded that if the niobium coatings produced just two large<strong>Gravity</strong> <strong>Probe</strong> B — <strong>Post</strong> <strong>Flight</strong> Analysis • Final <strong>Report</strong> March 2007 435

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