Status of MICROSCOPE, a mission to test the Equivalence Principle in space

Abstract

MICROSCOPE is a French Space Agency mission that aims to test the Weak Equivalence Principle in space down to an accuracy of $10^{-15}$. This is two orders of magnitude better than the current constraints, which will allow us to test General Relativity as well as theories beyond General Relativity which predict a possible Weak Equivalence Principle violation below $10^{-13}$. In this communication, we describe the MICROSCOPE mission, its measurement principle and instrument, and we give an update on its status. After a successful instrument's commissioning, MICROSCOPE is on track for on-schedule launch, expected in 2016.

arXiv commentProceedings of LISA Symposium X; accepted for publication in Journal of Physics: Conference Series

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• Fine-structure constant constraints on dark energy: II. Extending the parameter space
• Equivalence Principle in Chameleon Models
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• On dilatons with intrinsic decouplings
• Dealing with missing data: An inpainting application to the MICROSCOPE space mission
• Dealing with missing data in the MICROSCOPE space mission: An adaptation of inpainting to handle colored-noise data
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