Free-flight experiments in LISA Pathfinder

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. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012006 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-121622 Published Version Originally published at: Armano, M; Audley, H; Auger, G; Ferraioli, L; Giardini, D; Jetzer, P; Mance, D; Zweifel, P; et al (2015). Free-flight experiments in LISA Pathfinder. Journal of Physics : Conference Series, 610(1):012006. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012006 ar X iv :1 41 2. 83 84 v1 [ gr -q c] 2 9 D ec 2 01 4 Free-flight experiments in LISA Pathfinder M Armano, H Audley, G Auger, J Baird, P Binetruy, M Born, D Bortoluzzi, N Brandt, A Bursi, M Caleno , A Cavalleri, A Cesarini, M Cruise, C Cutler, K Danzmann, I Diepholz, R Dolesi, N Dunbar, L Ferraioli, V Ferroni, E Fitzsimons, M Freschi, J Gallegos, C Garćıa Marirrodriga , R Gerndt, LI Gesa, F Gibert, D Giardini, R Giusteri, C Grimani, I Harrison, G Heinzel, M Hewitson, D Hollington, M Hueller, J Huesler , H Inchauspé, O Jennrich , P Jetzer, B Johlander , N Karnesis, B Kaune, N Korsakova, C Killow, I Lloro, R Maarschalkerweerd, S Madden , P Maghami, D Mance, V Mart́ın, F Martin-Porqueras, I Mateos, P McNamara , J Mendes, L Mendes, A Moroni, M Nofrarias, S Paczkowski, M Perreur-Lloyd, A Petiteau, P Pivato, E Plagnol, P Prat, U Ragnit , J Ramos-Castro, J Reiche, J A Romera Perez , D Robertson, H Rozemeijer , G Russano, P Sarra, A Schleicher, J Slutsky, C F Sopuerta, T Sumner, D Texier, J Thorpe, C Trenkel, H B Tu, D Vetrugno, S Vitale, G Wanner, H Ward, S Waschke, P Wass, D Wealthy, S Wen, W Weber, A Wittchen, C Zanoni, T Ziegler, P Zweifel a European Space Astronomy Centre, European Space Agency, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain b Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik und Universität Hannover, 30167 Hannover, Germany c APC UMR7164, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France d Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, and Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Application / INFN e Airbus Defence and Space, Claude-Dornier-Strasse, 88090 Immenstaad, Germany f European Space Technology Centre, European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands g Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento and Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Application / INFN, 38123 Povo, Trento, Italy h Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK i Airbus Defence and Space, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2AS, UK j Institut für Geophysik, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, CH-8092, Zürich, Switzerland k Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB, Facultat de Ciències, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain l Istituto di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Urbino/ INFN Urbino (PU), Italy m European Space Operations Centre, European Space Agency, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany n The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, UK o Physik Institut, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland p SUPA, Institute for Gravitational Research, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK q Department d’Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08034 Barcelona, Spain r Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), C/ Gran Capità 2-4, 08034 Barcelona, Spain s NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA t CGS S.p.A, Compagnia Generale per lo Spazio, Via Gallarate, 150 20151 Milano, Italy t NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 E-mail: [email protected] Abstract. 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 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.