Electrostatic accelerometer with bias rejection for the test of the gravitation law at the Solar System scale

Radio tracking of interplanetary probes is an important tool for navigation purposes as well as for testing the laws of gravitation in the Solar System. The addition of an accelerometer on board a spacecraft provides scientists with an additional observable of great interest: it measures the value of the non-gravitational acceleration acting on the spacecraft, i.e. the departure of the probe from geodesic motion. This technology is routinely used for geodesy missions in Earth orbits with electrostatic accelerometers. This thesis focuses on the Gravity Advanced Package, an instrument made of an electrostatic accelerometer and a rotating platform. This technological evolution allows measuring without bias the non-gravitational acceleration of the spacecraft. It is essential to enhance the scientific return of interplanetary missions in the Solar System, from the point of view of gravitation physics. Indeed, by measuring the absolute non-gravitational acceleration of an interplanetary spacecraft and using these measurements in the orbit restitution process, it is possible to test unambiguously the gravitational law. Considering the technologies presented in this thesis, it is possible to measure the unbiased non-gravitational acceleration of a spacecraft with a precision of 1 pm.s^{-2} for an integration time of 3 hours. These measurements, along with the radio tracking of the probe, allows testing the gravitation law at the level of 10^{-11} m.s^{-2} for an arc of 21 days.

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Source https://theses.hal.science/tel-00736620
Author Lenoir, Benjamin
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated November 1, 2026, 13:10 (UTC)
Created November 1, 2026, 13:10 (UTC)
Identifier tel-00736620
Language fr
Rights https://about.hal.science/hal-authorisation-v1/
contributor ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab [Châtillon] ; ONERA-Université Paris Saclay (COmUE)
creator Lenoir, Benjamin
date 2012-09-14T00:00:00
harvest_object_id c999359a-172d-48d5-9eca-1402dc9c78c1
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2025-08-12T00:00:00
set_spec type:THESE