MICROSCOPE modelisation and results of the calibration phase
- Paper number
IAC-06-A2.1.02
- Author
Ms. Emeline Guiu, Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA), France
- Coauthor
Mr. Manuel Rodrigues, Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA), France
- Coauthor
Mr. Pierre Touboul, Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA), France
- Year
2006
- Abstract
MICROSCOPE is a scientific space mission which aims to verify the Equivalence Principle with an accuracy of 10 −15, 100 times better than the best current lab experiments. Special attention has been paid to the accelerometric environment of the satellite in order to decrease all the disturbing accelerations. The payload is a differential ultrasensitive electrostatic accelerometer which is used for the continuous drag compensation and attitude control of the satellite. It is also used to bias the servo control of the satellite in order to generate specific stimuli for the instrument calibration.
The calibration phase of the payload is a short but essential preliminary part of the mission. A first analysis allows determining the impact of the instrument defects on the measured signal used to test the Equivalence Principle. This analysis establishes the list of parameters necessary to be evaluated in flight in order to post-process the scientific data. These parameters are linked to the accommodation on board or to the characteristics of the instrument. They are evaluated by the generation of the stimuli through satellite manoeuvres.
The scenario of the mission also takes into account the drift of the parameters to fix the rate of the calibration phases. Each calibration phase should last one week within a one-year mission. A scenario which gathers all the manoeuvres to be executed during the calibration phase has been validated. This scenario is the result of a trade-off between satellite manoeuvres capabilities and a short duration of each phase leading to the best accuracy possible of the instrument measurement.
As the MICROSCOPE instrument cannot operate on ground, the approach considered here is to test the calibration procedures before the actual launch by modelising the instrument and its in-orbit environment. Each calibration procedure is simulated, output data of which are then treated to estimate the parameters to be calibrated and compared with the specifications. This paper focuses particularly on the realised simulator and the obtained results.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-A2.1.02.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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