Seismic noise effect suppression for the performance testing of high-precision space electrostatic accelerometers using a torsion pendulum with differential configuration

Abstract To test the performance of high-precision electrostatic accelerometers for next generation satellite gravity measurement missions, a torsion pendulum integrated with two electrostatic accelerometers is proposed. In this differential configuration scheme, the seismic noise effect can be further suppressed due to common-mode rejection. Theoretical analysis shows that the seismic noise effect rejection ratio is determined by the inconsistency factors of two accelerometers, and after the compensation for inconsistency, the seismic noise effect can be suppressed by at least 85 dB below 0.1 Hz. Preliminary experimental results are agreed with the theoretical analysis, and its detection sensitivity comes to 2 × 10 − 11 m s −2 Hz − 1 / 2 at 10 mHz, which is limited by the intrinsic noises of accelerometers used here.