Free-flight experiments in LISA Pathfinder

10th International LISA Symposium

Armano, M.^1 ; Audley, H.^2 ; Auger, G.^3 ; Baird, J.^14 ; Binetruy, P.^3 ; Born, M.^2 ; Bortoluzzi, D.^4,7 ; Brandt, N.^5 ; Bursi, A.^20 ; Caleno, M.^6 ; Cavalleri, A.^7 ; Cesarini, A.^7 ; Cruise, M.^8 ; Cutler, C.^21 ; Danzmann, K.^2 ; Diepholz, I.^2 ; Dolesi, R.^7 ; Dunbar, N.^9 ; Ferraioli, L.^10 ; Ferroni, V.^7 ; Fitzsimons, E.^5 ; Freschi, M.^1 ; Gallegos, J.^1 ; Marirrodriga, C. García^6 ; Gerndt, R.^5 ; Gesa, Li^11 ; Gibert, F.^11 ; Giardini, D.^10 ; Giusteri, R.^7 ; Grimani, C.^12 ; Harrison, I.^13 ; Heinzel, G.^2 ; Hewitson, M.^2 ; Hollington, D.^14 ; Hueller, M.^7 ; Huesler, J.^6 ; Inchauspé, H.^3 ; Jennrich, O.^6 ; Jetzer, P.^15 ; Johlander, B.^6 ; Karnesis, N.^11 ; Kaune, B.^2 ; Korsakova, N.^2 ; Killow, C.^16 ; Lloro, I.^11 ; Maarschalkerweerd, R.^13 ; Madden, S.^6 ; Maghami, P.^19 ; Mance, D.^10 ; Martín, V.^11 ; Martin-Porqueras, F.^1 ; Mateos, I.^11 ; McNamara, P.^6 ; Mendes, J.^13 ; Mendes, L.^1 ; Moroni, A.^20 ; Nofrarias, M.^11 ; Paczkowski, S.^2 ; Perreur-Lloyd, M.^16 ; Petiteau, A.^3 ; Pivato, P.^7 ; Plagnol, E.^3 ; Prat, P.^3 ; Ragnit, U.^6 ; Ramos-Castro, J.^17,18 ; Reiche, J.^2 ; Perez, J. A. Romera^6 ; Robertson, D.^16 ; Rozemeijer, H.^6 ; Russano, G.^7 ; Sarra, P.^20 ; Schleicher, A.^5 ; Slutsky, J.^19 ; Sopuerta, C.F.^11 ; Sumner, T.^14 ; Texier, D.^1 ; Thorpe, J.^19 ; Trenkel, C.^9 ; Tu, H.B.^7 ; Vetrugno, D.^7 ; Vitale, S.^7 ; Wanner, G.^2 ; Ward, H.^16 ; Waschke, S.^14 ; Wass, P.^14 ; Wealthy, D.^9 ; Wen, S.^7 ; Weber, W.^7 ; Wittchen, A.^2 ; Zanoni, C.^4 ; Ziegler, T.^5 ; Zweifel, P.^10

European Space Astronomy Centre, European Space Agency, Villanueva-de-la-Cañada, Madrid

28692, Spain^1

Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, Universität Hannover, Hannover

30167, Germany^2

APC UMR7164, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France^3

Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, via Sommarive 9, Trento

38123, Italy^4

Airbus Defence and Space, Claude-Dornier-Strasse, Immenstaad

88090, Germany^5

European Space Technology Centre, European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, Noordwijk

2200 AG, Netherlands^6

Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento, Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Application / INFN, Povo, Trento

38123, Italy^7

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom^8

Airbus Defence and Space, Gunnels Wood Road, Hertfordshire, Stevenage

SG1 2AS, United Kingdom

(10) Institut für Geophysik, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, Zürich

CH-8092, Switzerland

(11) Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB, Facultat de Ciències, Bellaterra

08193, Spain

(12) Istituto di Fisica, Università Degli Studi di Urbino, INFN Urbino (PU), Italy

(13) European Space Operations Centre, European Space Agency, Darmstadt

64293, Germany

(14) Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

(15) Physik Institut, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich

CH-8057, Switzerland

(16) Institute for Gravitational Research, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow

G12 8QQ, United Kingdom

(17) Department d'Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona

08034, Spain

(18) Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), C/ Gran Capità 2-4, Barcelona

08034, Spain

(19) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt

MD

20771, United States

(20) CGS S.p.A, Compagnia Generale per Lo Spazio, Via Gallarate, 150, Milan

20151, Italy

(21) NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena

CA

91109, United States^9

关键词: Flight experiments;    Gravitational wave detectors;    LISA Pathfinder;    Mission requirements;    Noise source;    On-orbit performance;    Potential sources;    Space-based;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012006/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012006

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

The LISA Pathfinder mission will demonstrate the technology of drag-free test masses for use as inertial references in future space-based gravitational wave detectors. To accomplish this, the Pathfinder spacecraft will perform drag-free flight about a test mass while measuring the acceleration of this primary test mass relative to a second reference test mass. Because the reference test mass is contained within the same spacecraft, it is necessary to apply forces on it to maintain its position and attitude relative to the spacecraft. These forces are a potential source of acceleration noise in the LISA Pathfinder system that are not present in the full LISA configuration. While LISA Pathfinder has been designed to meet it's primary mission requirements in the presence of this noise, recent estimates suggest that the on-orbit performance may be limited by this 'suspension noise'. The drift-mode or free-flight experiments provide an opportunity to mitigate this noise source and further characterize the underlying disturbances that are of interest to the designers of LISA-like instruments. This article provides a high-level overview of these experiments and the methods under development to analyze the resulting data.