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Gravity Probe B

Testing Einstein's Universe

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK ENDING 1 August 1997:

STANFORD HIGHLIGHT
Dr. John Mester and his team have completed the 8 inch lead bag for the gyroscope commissioning facility. A series of three 4 inch lead bag expansions preceded the expansion of the final 8 inch bag. The field at the gyroscope position is 1 microGauss, meeting the requirements for this facility. Dr. Yueming Xiao and his team have successfully tested the air lock system for the gyroscope commissioning facility.

SPACE VEHICLE HIGHLIGHT
PAYLOAD HIGHLIGHT

The complete brassboard Experiment Control Unit (ECU), including the Forward box, Aft box, Probe and Dewar simulators, was taken to the Integrated Test Facility for testing of flight software. The object is to verify software operation and calibration of GRT and SDT data. This test is in preparation for GTU-2.

An update to the Science Mission Dewar (SMD) Certificate of Compliance was released last week, closing all previously outstanding SMD Class 1 Discrepancies.

SPACECRAFT HIGHLIGHT

Contract deliverables and draft presentation material have been completed and submitted to Stanford University for the second Relativity Mission Spacecraft Critical Design Review (CDR 2). Fifty three documents and one hundred sixty nine released drawings were delivered to Stanford.

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