Free-flight experiments in LISA pathfinder

Armano, M. et al. (2015) Free-flight experiments in LISA pathfinder. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 610, 012006. (doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012006)

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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 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.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Robertson, Dr David and Ward, Professor Henry and Perreur-Lloyd, Mr Michael and Killow, Dr Christian
Authors: Armano, M., Audley, H., Auger, G., Baird, J., Binetruy, P., Born, M., Bortoluzzi, D., Brandt, N., Bursi, A., Caleno, M., Cavalleri, A., Cesarini, A., Cruise, M., Cutler, C., Danzmann, K., Diepholz, I., Dolesi, R., Dunbar, N., Ferraioli, L., Ferroni, V., Fitzsimons, E., Freschi, M., Gallegos, J., Marirrodriga, C. G., Gerndt, R., Gesa, L., Gibert, F., Giardini, D., Giusteri, R., Grimani, C., Harrison, I., Heinzel, G., Hewitson, M., Hollington, D., Hueller, M., Huesler, J., Inchauspé, H., Jennrich, O., Jetzer, P., Johlander, B., Karnesis, N., Kaune, B., Korsakova, N., Killow, C., Lloro, I., Maarschalkerweerd, R., Madden, S., Maghami, P., Mance, D., Martín, V., Martin-Porqueras, F., Mateos, I., McNamara, P., Mendes, J., Mendes, L., Moroni, A., Nofrarias, M., Paczkowski, S., Perreur-Lloyd, M., Petiteau, A., Pivato, P., Plagnol, E., Prat, P., Ragnit, U., Ramos-Castro, J., Reiche, J., Perez, J. A. R., Robertson, D., Rozemeijer, H., Russano, G., Sarra, P., Schleicher, A., Slutsky, J., Sopuerta, C. F., Sumner, T., Texier, D., Thorpe, J., Trenkel, C., Tu, H. B., Vetrugno, D., Vitale, S., Wanner, G., Ward, H., Waschke, S., Wass, P., Wealthy, D., Wen, S., Weber, W., Wittchen, A., Zanoni, C., Ziegler, T., and Zweifel, P.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
Research Centre:College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy > Institute for Gravitational Research
Journal Name:Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Publisher:Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd.
ISSN:1742-6588
ISSN (Online):1742-6596
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2015 The Authors
First Published:First published in Journal of Physics: Conference Series 610:012006
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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