Microgravity disturbance analysis on Chinese space laboratory

Many scientific experiments are conducted in space; therefore, it is critical to understand the microgravity environment of a space laboratory. The first Chinese cargo ship, Tianzhou-1 (TZ-1), entered space on 20 April, 2017 and later joined with the Tiangong-2 (TG-2) Chinese space laboratory. TZ-1 carried a high-precision electrostatic suspension accelerometer system (ES-ACC) for measuring the microgravity acceleration on the spacecraft and a microgravity-active vibration system (MAIS), which contained flexible quartz accelerometers (Q-ACC). The ES-ACC was able to provide a reduced-disturbance environment for the MAIS. The purpose of these two instruments was to validate novel technologies and as an opportunity to record the microgravity acceleration of TZ-1 and TG-2 in detail during spacecraft operation in different flight modes, with or without vibration isolation. The acceleration data were analyzed comprehensively in a time–frequency–amplitude spectrogram. Some periodical disturbances with orbital period and irregular signals related to certain in-orbit events were observed. After reducing those disturbances, the microgravity levels on TZ-1 and TG-2 could be resolved to better than 10−6 m/s2 in the root mean square in the frequency of 0.01–10 Hz. These accurate measurements aboard the Chinese space laboratory will provide valuable information to optimize working conditions for scientific experiments.