Earth Satellites and Gravitomagnetic Field

The authors discuss the possibility of measuring the Lense-Thirring (LT) gravitomagnetic effect on a "test-particle", using a) orbital elements other than the nodal longitude and b) existing or planned earth satellites and in particular laser-ranged satellites such as LAGEOS, LAGEOS-II and LAGEOS-III. The conclusion is that, using the presently available satellites, the only orbital parameter suitable to measure the LT effect is the nodal longitude. Furthermore, existing or planned laser-ranged satellites would not give enough information to measure the gravitomagnetic effect.