SENSOR CALIBRATION FOR THE MICROSCOPE SATELLITE MISSION

The MICROSCOPE drag free satellite mission (launch in 2016) will perform a test of the universality of free fall (Equivalence Principle - EP) to an new level of accuracy. The payload consists of two sensors, each controlling the free fall of a pair of test masses. The EP test strongly depends on the rejection of disturbances arising from the coupling and misalignments of the instrument vectorial outputs. Therefore the performance of the mission depends on the success of the calibration operations which are planned during the satellite life in orbit, as well as on ground at the ZARM drop tower.