Faculty & Research

personnel profile

Daniel B. DeBra

 
Title:Professor Emeritus
Department(s):Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mechanical Engineering by courtesy
Affiliation(s):Co-Principal Investigator, Gravity Probe B Project; Co-Director, Navigation and Control Laboratories
Location:Durand 356
Mail Code:4035
Phone:650.723.3388       
Fax:650.723.0062
E-mail: ddebra@stanford.edu
Administrator: William B. Webster

Research Statement

Professor DeBra collaborates with Stanford physicists on three projects: Gravity Probe-B (GP-B), Space Test of the Equivalence Principle (STEP), and the vibration isolation of a gravity-wave antenna (LIGO). These involve satellite control of attitude and translation and the development of instruments of extraordinary precision and accuracy. In GP-B gyroscopes were successfully orbited in 2004. They have been compared to stars to an accuracy approaching a nanoradian. In STEP the orbital performance promises improvements of a million in testing the equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass. (It is currently in a hiatus of funding.) Professor DeBra's interests in precision engineering extend to manufacturing where his students' work developing "quiet hydraulics" in the 1990's has more recently been applied to the vibration isolation of the optical systems of LIGO.

Degree Discipline Year School
PhD 1962 Stanford

Membership in National Academies

National Academy of Engineering