MICROSCOPE

Note: 1e launch from new launchport.
Launched together with: Sentinel 1B - NORSAT 1 - AAUSAT 4 - e-st@r 2 - OUFTI 1

Prime manufacturer	CNES
Platform	Myriade bus
Operator	Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Mass at launch	300 kg
Dry Mass	kg
Basic shape
Dimension (m)
Equipment
Solar array
Stabilization
Propulsion
DC power
Design lifetime	1 yr

MICROSCOPE (Micro-Satellite à traînée Compensée pour l’Observation du Principe d’Equivalence) is a satellite that will test the equivalence principle described by Albert Einstein, with a precision on the order of 10-15. In space, it is possible to study the relative motion of two bodies in almost perfect and permanent free fall aboard an orbiting satellite, shielded from perturbations encountered on Earth (notably seismic), over the course of several months. To achieve this, two concentric cylindrical test masses made of different materials – one titanium and one a platinum-rhodium alloy – will be minutely controlled to keep them motionless with respect to the satellite inside independent differential electrostatic accelerometers. If the equivalence principle is verified, the two masses will be subjected to the same control acceleration. If different accelerations have to be applied, the principle will be violated: an event that would shake the foundations of physics.

On Apr 25, 2016 Arianespace flight VS14 launched a Soyuz ST-A from the ELS pad at CSG Sinnamary.
The Fregat stage made two more burns to reach 711 x 714 km and released the Microscope satellite. Operated by the French space agency CNES, Microscope uses the Myriade bus and contains drag-free test masses to test the Equivalence Principle.

Ref.: #7(JR725), #226, #228 - update: 22.04.17