MG11 |
Participant |
Mester, John | |
Institution |
Stanford University - Via Palou - Stanford - CA - USA | |
Session |
Talk |
Abstract |
PS |
Testing of the Equivalence Principle in Space |
An overview of space tests of the Equivalence Principle will be presented. We will focus in detail on two experiments to test the universality of free fall, MICROSCOPE and STEP. MICROSCOPE is a CNRS and ESA mission led by ONERA with a precision goal of 1 part in 10^15. The international STEP Collaboration is pursuing development of STEP, a cryogenic mission with a precision goal of 1 part in 10^18, an advance in the present state of knowledge by over 5 orders of magnitude. We will describe recent progress with an emphasis on accelerometer fabrication and test for both missions. The transfer of critical technologies successfully demonstrated in flight by the Gravity Probe B mission will be described. |