Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2017) 132: 336
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2017-11635-1

Regular Article

A new laser-ranged satellite for General Relativity and space geodesy: I. An introduction to the LARES2 space experiment

¹ Dip. Ingegneria dell’Innovazione, Università del Salento, Lecce, Italy
² Centro Fermi, Rome, Italy
³ Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy
⁴ Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland, BC & NASA Goddard, Baltimore County, USA
⁵ Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
⁶ Center for Space Research, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA
⁷ Theory Group, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA
⁸ Center for Cosmology and Astrophysics, Alikhanian National Laboratory and Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
⁹ Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
¹⁰ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

^* e-mail: ignazio.ciufolini@gmail.com

Received: 17 July 2017
Accepted: 24 July 2017
Published online: 4 August 2017

Abstract

We introduce the LARES 2 space experiment recently approved by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The LARES 2 satellite is planned for launch in 2019 with the new VEGA C launch vehicle of ASI, ESA and ELV. The orbital analysis of LARES 2 experiment will be carried out by our international science team of experts in General Relativity, theoretical physics, space geodesy and aerospace engineering. The main objectives of the LARES 2 experiment are gravitational and fundamental physics, including accurate measurements of General Relativity, in particular a test of frame-dragging aimed at achieving an accuracy of a few parts in a thousand, i.e., aimed at improving by about an order of magnitude the present state-of-the-art and forthcoming tests of this general relativistic phenomenon. LARES 2 will also achieve determinations in space geodesy. LARES 2 is an improved version of the LAGEOS 3 experiment, proposed in 1984 to measure frame-dragging and analyzed in 1989 by a joint ASI and NASA study.