MICROSCOPE. mission analysis, requirements and expected performance

Abstract

International audienceThe 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 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