Engineering and scientific aspects of LARES satellite

LAser RElativity Satellite (LARES) is an Italian passive satellite designed for the accurate test of a phenomenon predicted by Einstein General Relativity called frame-dragging, or gravitomagnetism, i.e., the Earth angular momentum generates spacetime curvature that causes an additional perturbation of the satellite orbit, called the Lense-Thirring effect. LARES is a laser-ranged satellite of the type of the two LAGEOS satellites already orbiting the Earth. Data from these three satellites will also be used to improve the accuracy in the measurement of the Lense-Thirring effect.