MECHANICAL DESIGN OF LARES SATELLITE

The LARES satellite design is derived from that one of the LAGEOS satellites. The ideal orbit of LARES for performing the most accurate measurement of the general relativity effect called Lense-Thirring (LT), would be supplementary to that one of LAGEOS. However, by combining orbital data of the two LAGEOS satellites with that one of the new LARES satellite, it will be possible to perform the accurate measurement of the LT effect even if the inclinations does not meet that requirement and with relatively high altitudes. LARES has been approved for a launch on the VEGA maiden flight for which the maximum allowed altitude is 1,500 km. At this altitude, drag effects are not negligible and a reduction of the surface-tomass ratio of the satellite is a viable solution to recover the required accuracy. In the paper it will be reported the current design of the satellite.