The drag-free control design and in-orbit experimental results of “Taiji-1”

Abstract

Taiji is China’s spaceborne gravitational wave (GW) detecting project, which is designed to detect GW sources ranging from 0.1mHz to 1Hz. Taiji-1, launched on 31 August 2019, is a pilot study mission to prepare necessary technology for Taiji pathfinder. Two major technology units were tested on Taiji-1: Optical Metrology System and Drag-free Control System (DFCS). In this paper, we try to illustrate the design of DFCS; the implementation strategy of experiment and the first results of in-orbit experiment. The disturbance reduction capability of Taiji-1’s DFCS is demonstrated by the in-orbit experimental performance analysis.