Continuous charge management scheme for TianQin

Abstract

Abstract TianQin is a proposed Chinese space-borne gravitational wave detection mission, which will consist of three earth-orbiting spacecraft in equilateral triangle constellation. Due to the ‘3 months on + 3 months off’ observation scheme, the continuous scientific observation period of TianQin is much shorter than LISA, it is highly preferred that other on-board operations, such as charge management, will not interrupt gravitational wave detection. This paper presents a torsion pendulum system on the ground to investigate the continuous discharge method in detail. It is found that the difference in surface characteristics between the test mass and the surrounding housing is the most critical to the success of continuous discharge method. Consequently, the effect of this difference on the continuous discharge process was evaluated in ground simulation experiments, and based on the research results, we also proposed a more feasible spatial continuous charge management strategy for TianQin.