Status of MICROSCOPE, a mission to test the Equivalence Principle in space

10th International LISA Symposium

Bergé, Joel^1 ; Touboul, Pierre^2 ; Rodrigues, Manuel^1

ONERA, French Aerospace Lab, 29 avenue de la Division Leclerc, Châtillon

92320, France^1

ONERA, French Aerospace Lab, chemin de la Hunière, Palaiseau

91123, France^2

关键词: Equivalence principles;    French space agency;    General Relativity;    Microscope mission;    Orders of magnitude;    Weak equivalence principle;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012009/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012009

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

MICROSCOPE is a French Space Agency mission that aims to test the Weak Equivalence Principle in space down to an accuracy of 10-15. This is two orders of magnitude better than the current constraints, which will allow us to test General Relativity as well as theories beyond General Relativity which predict a possible Weak Equivalence Principle violation below 10-13. In this communication, we describe the MICROSCOPE mission, its measurement principle and instrument, and we give an update on its status. After a successful instrument's commissioning, MICROSCOPE is on track for on-schedule launch, expected in 2016.