While I did not reply to each and every "update", I find it interesting to see the information posted here. Of course, I could go to the Web site, but I tend to simply forget. Nor do I really feel like subscribing to an e-mail list...
It looks like this mission is more complicated than I had imagined...
Of course, extremely precise measurements are required. The (expected) effects would be much more noticeable in the vicinity of a black hole or neutron star, or even a white dwarf - all of which are out of the question, for now. But I wonder, might it not have been cheaper to send a probe close to Jupiter for this purpose? Jupiter has ca. 300 Earth masses, and spins at a rate of one revolution every 10 hours or so.
OTOH, perhaps the technical difficulties of controlling the spacecraft over so large a distance would have been a problem - the spacecraft would take quite a while to respond to any command.
Regards,
Hilmar.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)
