Patent ID: 7584544

Claim:
A gravity gradiometer for measuring components of the gravity gradient tensor, the gravity gradiometer comprising: a housing; a gimballed support structure for supporting the housing and rotating the housing about an axis, the support structure comprising an actuator; at least one sensor mass being positioned in the housing and being arranged for movement in response to a gravity gradient; a pivotal coupling enabling the movement of the at least one sensor mass about an axis and suspending the at least one mass in the housing; a transducer arranged so that the movement of the at least one sensor mass relative to a portion of the transducer generates a transducer signal; and an electrical feedback loop arranged to direct an electrical signal to the actuator of the external support structure, the electrical signal being associated with the transducer signal; wherein the gravity gradiometer is arranged so that an influence of an external angular acceleration on the rotation of the housing is reduced by the actuator when the transducer generates a transducer signal effected by the external angular acceleration on the gravity gradiometer.