Modelling and simulation of the space mission MICROSCOPE

Abstract

The French space mission MICROSCOPE aims at testing the weak Equivalence Principle (EP) with an accuracy of 10-15 The payload, which is developed and built by the French institute ONERA consists of two high-precision capacitive differential accelerometers. The detection of the test mass movement and their control is done via a complex electrode system. The German department ZARM is member of the MICROSCOPE performance team. In addition to drop tower tests, mission simulations and the preparation of the mission data evaluation are realized in close cooperation with the French partners CNES, ONERA and OCA. Therefore a comprehensive simulation of the real system including the science signal and all error sources is built for the development and testing of data reduction and data analysis algorithms to extract the EP violation signal. In this context the focus lays on the correct modeling of the environmental disturbances. Currently new effort to study the influence of the solar radiation and the Earth albedo to the MICROSCOPE mission scenario is underway. © International Astronomical Union 2010.