MICROSCOPE mission analysis, requirements and expected performance
Abstract
The MICROSCOPE mission aimed to test the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) to a precision of . The WEP states that two bodies fall at the same rate on a gravitational field independently of their mass or composition. In MICROSCOPE, two masses of different compositions (titanium and platinum alloys) are placed on a quasi-circular trajectory around the Earth. They are the test-masses of a double accelerometer. The measurement of their accelerations is used to extract a potential WEP violation that would occur at a frequency defined by the motion and attitude of the satellite around the Earth. This paper details the major drivers of the mission leading to the specification of the major subsystems (satellite, ground segment, instrument, orbit...). Building upon the measurement equation, we derive the objective of the test in statistical and systematic error allocation and provide the mission's expected error budget.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2012.06472,
title = {MICROSCOPE mission analysis, requirements and expected performance},
author = {Pierre Touboul and Manuel Rodrigues and Gilles Métris and Ratana Chhun and Alain Robert and Quentin Baghi and Emilie Hardy and Joel Bergé and Damien Boulanger and Bruno Christophe and Valerio Cipolla and Bernard Foulon and Pierre-Yves Guidotti and Phuong-Anh Huynh and Vincent Lebat and Françoise Liorzou and Benjamin Pouilloux and Pascal Prieur and Serge Reynaud},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2012.06472},
year = {2023}
}
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