The meaty part of centripetal acceleration

Yes. It did. The guide star among other controls were required to "measure" the geodetic and frame dragging effects.

The hypothetical I suggested was only to suggest that even without the controls, the results of such an experiment carried out within the inertial frame of reference inside the satellite, would still be affected by both the geodetic and frame dragging affects and give data inconsistent with an inertial frame of reference. There would be no way to measure the geodetic and frame dragging effects but still it should suggest that the satellite itself was moving non-inertially or at least being influenced by forces outside of the closed inertial frame of reference within.

Edit: While I understand the science, mechanics and results of the experiment, I am not an expert on the engineering, construction and many of the internal controls.

 

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Actually after thinking about it, any gyroscope inside the satellite would provide information about the satellite's non-inertial motion. Anything on the level of GP-B would be over kill.

 

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