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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 2-12. Final assembly of the <strong>Probe</strong>During the entire <strong>GP</strong>-B mission, the inside of the <strong>Probe</strong> was maintained at an extremely high vacuum—muchgreater than the vacuum of the thermosphere at the 642 km (400 mi) orbiting altitude of the spacecraft. Theprobe is surrounded by a superconducting lead bag, inserted between it and the dewar. The superconductinglead bag provided an impenetrable shield from electromagnetic signals that could disturb the gyroscopes. Takentogether, all of these measures created an ultra-pristine cryogenic environment, free of any external forces ordisturbances, in which the gyroscopes spun during the science phase of the mission.At the upper end of the <strong>Probe</strong>, capping off the dewar, is the “top hat.” The top hat served as a thermal interfacefor connecting over 450 plumbing and electrical lines, that run from various electronics and control systems,mounted on the space vehicle’s truss system outside the dewar, to the cryogenic vacuum chamber inside the<strong>Probe</strong> and dewar.38 March 2007 Chapter 2 — Overview of the <strong>GP</strong>-B Experiment & Mission

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