The MICROSCOPE space mission aims at testing the Equivalence Principle with an accuracy of 10e-15. To be launched on April 2016, the CNES microsatellite embarks the instrument that should test for the first time in space the foundation of General Relativity. The expected results whether they confirm or not the Equivalence Principle will bring a...
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May 30, 2016 (v1)Conference paperUploaded on: February 28, 2023
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2022 (v1)Journal article
Since the MICROSCOPE instrument aims to measure accelerations as low as a few 10$^{−15}$ m s$^{−2}$ and cannot operate on ground, it was necessary to have a large time dedicated to its characterization in flight. After its release and first operation, the characterization experiments covered all the aspects of the instrument design in order to...
Uploaded on: December 4, 2022 -
2022 (v1)Journal article
This paper focuses on the description of the design and performance of the MICROSCOPE satellite and its drag-free and attitude control system. The satellite is derived from CNES' Myriade platform family, albeit with significant upgrades dictated by the unprecedented MICROSCOPE's mission requirements. The 300 kg drag-free microsatellite has...
Uploaded on: December 4, 2022 -
2022 (v1)Journal article
The MICROSCOPE mission aimed to test the weak equivalence principle (WEP) to a precision of 10$^{−15}$. 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...
Uploaded on: December 4, 2022 -
2022 (v1)Journal article
This paper focuses on the dedicated accelerometers developed for the MICROSCOPE mission taking into account the specific range of acceleration to be measured on board the satellite. Considering one micro-g and even less as the full range of the instrument with an objective of one femto-g resolution, that leads to a customized concept and a...
Uploaded on: December 4, 2022