[cogitator]

I understand your argument -- and I agree that it should be fixed to work. I just can't believe it's taken so long and cost so much to get this thing up and running.

I'd rather that $500 million be spent on physics that might have a spinoff value, like particle physics leading to nuclear fusion.

Having said that, it's possible that the technology of the super-gyros on GP-B has spinoff value; I just don't know what/where that value would be utilized.

[RightWhale]

The Michelson-Morley experiment was funded by A. Graham Bell. It wasn't cheap to float a ton of precision granite in mercury, but the government wasn't involved.

Flash forward: If Gates were worth anything in science or technology he could fund this and it would elevate him to an Alexander Graham Bell status. As it is, Gates billions are a joke and everybody knows it's because he is a bright hacker not a genius and his product is not inspired. Let him invest in his Indian labor pool, but to fund actual science? Ha! There are software geniuses, BTW.

[cogitator]

I answered my own question by doing a bit of reading.

All of the pages (1-8) are interesting, but this one discusses spin-off benefits:

The Surprising Spin-Offs from Gravity Probe B: Schiff's Cargo

One of which is a better geoid (standard reference gravity surface) of the Earth, providing better sea surface height and surface change data.