Gyroscopes are mounted disks that spin so that their axes can turn freely and maintain a constant orientation in space. Consequently, they play an important role in space travel as they are used to stabilize spacecraft and keep them pointed in a...

Technically, a gyroscope is any body that spins on a movable axis, including a child's toy top and the Earth itself. A gyroscope maintains a fixed axis of spin in spite of forces of gravity and magnetic fields, making it useful for navigation. Today's...

A gyroscope is a weighted, balanced wheel mounted in bearings and spinning at high velocity. It holds its position, no matter at what angle it is held. This has made the gyroscope valuable for several purposes. One obvious application is to stabilize...

A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of conservation of angular momentum. The device is a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation. This orientation changes much less in...

A gyroscope is essentially a symmetrical mass mounted so that it can spin about an axis in any direction. When spinning, the gyroscope possesses very interesting physical properties. For one, it can resist changes in the orientation of its spin axis. A gyroscope also...

Space gyroscopes for testing relativity Scientists at Stanford University are starting to assemble a crucial experiment designed to test Einstein's general theory of relativity to an unprecedented level of precision. Known as Gravity Probe-B, the satellite-based experiment will attempt to detect two...

Two astronauts floated outside the international space station Monday to begin connecting the orbiting outpost's newest addition: a 35,000-pound segment that will increase its power capability.The start of the spacewalk was delayed by more than an hour because the four spinning gyroscopes that keep the...

Two thirds of the observation ability on the popular Hubble Space Telescope's main camera have been permanently lost following power supply problems, NASA announced Monday.The Advanced Camera for Surveys shut down again over the weekend, the third outage in less than a year for the...