Free-flight experiments in LISA Pathfinder

[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.

[发布机构] 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