Development of High Precision Test Masses for the MICROSCOPE Space Project

Daniel Hagedorn (1) , Heinz Peter Heyne (1) , Stephan Metschke (1) , Uwe Langner (1) , Vincent Lebat (2) , Manuel Rodriguez (2) , Pierre Touboul (3) , Frank Löffler (1)

1 PTB - Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt [Braunschweig]
2 ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab [Châtillon]
3 ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab [Palaiseau]

The MICROSCOPE (MicroSatellite à traînée Compensée pour l'Observation du Principe d'Equivalence) project is an orbit-based mission to verify the Weak Equivalent Principle with an uncertainty of 10-15. To achieve this goal two differential accelerometer, each equipped with two high precision test masses (made of PtRh10 and TiAl6V4 in the form of hollow cylinders with four flats at the outer shell and six precision countersinks at each face), are to be launched in Spring 2016 and shall orbit the earth for approx. one and a half year.

Mots clés: Fundamental Physics; Traceable Precision in-situ Measurement; Machining of Ductile Material; Process development

Mots clés: MESURE IN-SITU; PHYSIQUE FONDAMENTALE; ACCELEROMETRE ELECTROSTATIQUE ULTRASENSIBLE; MICROSCOPE; MICROSATELLITE; COMPENSATION TRAINEE; EQUIVALENCE

Domaines: Instrumentation et méthodes pour l'astrophysique [astro-ph.IM]; Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]; Physique de l'espace [physics.space-ph]

Daniel Hagedorn, Heinz Peter Heyne, Stephan Metschke, Uwe Langner, Vincent Lebat, et al.. Development of High Precision Test Masses for the MICROSCOPE Space Project. Key Engineering Materials, 2014, 613, pp.381-391. ⟨10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.613.381⟩. ⟨hal-01728810⟩