TY - JOUR
T1 - Eotvos, an inertial instrument for testing the equivalence principle
AU - Blaser, J.P.
AU - Lockerbie, N.A.
AU - Paik, H.J.
AU - Speake, C.
AU - Vitale, S.
PY - 1996/11
Y1 - 1996/11
N2 - A really inertial platform for highest sensitivity instruments needing to be absolutely free from any disturbances like drag and other forces in space is proposed for the case of an equivalence principle test with differential accelerometers. A spin-stable platform, inside a corotating outer spacecraft shielding it, constitutes the reference proof mass for a simple position servo system. Position measurements, as well as signal transmissions, are achieved optically. Power is supplied by microwave beams. The proposed ambient temperature EP-mission E¨otv¨os in an 800 km equatorial orbit would constitute a simple, very economic experiment. Limitations to the potentially very high precision are expected to be set by thermal disturbances.
AB - A really inertial platform for highest sensitivity instruments needing to be absolutely free from any disturbances like drag and other forces in space is proposed for the case of an equivalence principle test with differential accelerometers. A spin-stable platform, inside a corotating outer spacecraft shielding it, constitutes the reference proof mass for a simple position servo system. Position measurements, as well as signal transmissions, are achieved optically. Power is supplied by microwave beams. The proposed ambient temperature EP-mission E¨otv¨os in an 800 km equatorial orbit would constitute a simple, very economic experiment. Limitations to the potentially very high precision are expected to be set by thermal disturbances.
KW - equivalence principle
KW - Eotvos
KW - space
KW - drag
KW - spin-stable platform
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/13/11A/029
U2 - 10.1088/0264-9381/13/11A/029
DO - 10.1088/0264-9381/13/11A/029
M3 - Article
SN - 0264-9381
VL - 13
SP - A203-A206
JO - Classical and Quantum Gravity
JF - Classical and Quantum Gravity
IS - 11A
ER -