A new laser-ranged satellite for General Relativity and Space Geodesy II. Monte Carlo Simulations and covariance analyses of the LARES 2 Experiment

TL;DR

This paper presents Monte Carlo simulations and covariance analyses that confirm the high precision of the LARES 2 satellite in measuring frame-dragging effects predicted by General Relativity, supporting its scientific objectives.

Contribution

It provides detailed simulation-based validation of the expected measurement accuracy of the LARES 2 experiment for testing General Relativity.

Findings

Error budget of a few parts in one thousand for frame-dragging measurement

Monte Carlo simulations confirm the experiment's precision

Covariance analyses support previous error estimates

Abstract

In the previous paper we have introduced the LARES 2 space experiment. The LARES 2 laser-ranged satellite is planned for a launch in 2019 with the new VEGA C launch vehicle of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), ESA and ELV. The main objectives of the LARES 2 experiment are accurate measurements of General Relativity, gravitational and fundamental physics and accurate determinations in space geodesy and geodynamics. In particular LARES 2 is aimed to achieve a very accurate test of frame-dragging, an intriguing phenomenon predicted by General Relativity. Here we report the results of Monte Carlo simulations and covariance analyses fully confirming an error budget of a few parts in one thousand in the measurement of frame-dragging with LARES 2 as calculated in our previous paper.