The space-based experiment MICROSCOPE was launched in April 2016 and operated for over two years around Earth, finely monitoring the free fall of two test masses made of different materials. The mission aimed to test the equivalence principle (EP), the funding hypothesis of general relativity established by Einstein in 1915. The entire mission data analysis results were published last September, allowing us to verify the EP up to a precision improved by two orders of magnitude compared to ground-based experiments. I will give a retrospective on the mission adventure, describe the challenges we faced and present the scope of the results.
zoom link: https://cern.zoom.us/j/68399739111?pwd=SGErcHBQYmVLWFZTVE9jdm5xSmdEdz09
François Brun, Matthias Saimpert
