Abstract

Using a non-singular gravitational potential which appears in the literature we analytically derived and investigated the equations describing the precession of a body?s spin orbiting around a main spherical body of mass M. The calculation has been performed using a non-exact Schwarzschild solution, and further assuming that the gravitational field of the Earth is more than that of a rotating mass. General theory of relativity predicts that the direction of the gyroscope will change at a rate of 6.6 arcsec/year for a gyroscope in a 650 km high polar orbit. In our case a precession rate of the spin of a very similar magnitude to that predicted by general relativity was calculated resulting to a (Delta)S_geo / Sgeo = -5.570x10^-2.