The spaceflight section of this experiment ended a few years ago, but there were major unanticipated problems with the recorded data. Stanford figured out where the errors were coming from, but correcting them requires time-consuming computer simulation.
This announcement means that they've figured out and compensated for enough noise sources that the signal is becoming visible, and it's within a decent margin of error of what they expected.
Analysis is scheduled to continue on into 2010, but this is great news.
I can't help but remember all the fuss a few days back from the UEA scientists applying corrections to their own climate change data.
These guys spent years coming up with complex modifications to the raw data in order to match the frame-dragging they were expecting to see. Are we going to accuse them of falsifying data and bowing to political pressure too?
The spaceflight section of this experiment ended a few years ago, but there were major unanticipated problems with the recorded data. Stanford figured out where the errors were coming from, but correcting them requires time-consuming computer simulation.
This announcement means that they've figured out and compensated for enough noise sources that the signal is becoming visible, and it's within a decent margin of error of what they expected.
Analysis is scheduled to continue on into 2010, but this is great news.