{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]],"date-time":"2026-07-28T05:41:18Z","timestamp":1785217278953,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,2]],"date-time":"2025-05-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1746144000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2022YFC2204204"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022YFC2204204"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["11975319"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["11975319"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2024A1515010142"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024A1515010142"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["2022YFC2204204"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022YFC2204204"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["11975319"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["11975319"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["2024A1515010142"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024A1515010142"]}]},{"name":"Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation","award":["2022YFC2204204"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022YFC2204204"]}]},{"name":"Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation","award":["11975319"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["11975319"]}]},{"name":"Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation","award":["2024A1515010142"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024A1515010142"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The high-precision gravitational reference sensor, which hosts a heavy test mass (TM) surrounded by electrodes with a relatively large gap, is crucial in all high-sensitivity drag-free sensors. Consequently, a dedicated locking mechanism is needed to securely hold the TM during the launch phase. After reaching the intended orbit, the TM is released to a free-falling state and subsequently captured by electrostatic actuation, which demands that the transferred momentum and angular momentum to the TM do not exceed 10\u22125kgm\/s and 10\u22127kgm2\/s, respectively. This paper introduces a three-level structural design of the locking-and-release mechanism. In order to investigate the release requirement, a pendulum system has been developed for on-ground testing. The mock-up of the TM is entirely consistent with the size and mass of TianQin TM, and the dual-sided release tips constrain the TM and then rapidly retract simultaneously, after which the transferred momentum and angular momentum are estimated from the free oscillations as 0.38(21)\u00d710\u22125kgm\/s and 0.15(14)\u00d710\u22127kgm2\/s with a preload force of 0.3 N. This proposes a feasible scheme for validating the release mechanism conducting impulse testing for the TianQin project.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s25092878","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,2]],"date-time":"2025-05-02T07:44:23Z","timestamp":1746171863000},"page":"2878","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["On-Ground Testing of Dual-Sided Release Mechanism of TianQin Test Mass Using a Pendulum"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-9486-1138","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ji","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of TianQin Mission, TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics & School of Physics and Astronomy, Frontiers Science Center for TianQin, Gravitational Wave Research Center of CNSA, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Diwen","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of TianQin Mission, TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics & School of Physics and Astronomy, Frontiers Science Center for TianQin, Gravitational Wave Research Center of CNSA, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-3305-0381","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chao","family":"Xue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of TianQin Mission, TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics & School of Physics and Astronomy, Frontiers Science Center for TianQin, Gravitational Wave Research Center of CNSA, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Biao","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of TianQin Mission, TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics & School of Physics and Astronomy, Frontiers Science Center for TianQin, Gravitational Wave Research Center of CNSA, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bingwei","family":"Cai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of TianQin Mission, TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics & School of Physics and Astronomy, Frontiers Science Center for TianQin, Gravitational Wave Research Center of CNSA, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jie","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of TianQin Mission, TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics & School of Physics and Astronomy, Frontiers Science Center for TianQin, Gravitational Wave Research Center of CNSA, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-7911-2488","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zefan","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of TianQin Mission, TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics & School of Physics and Astronomy, Frontiers Science Center for TianQin, Gravitational Wave Research Center of CNSA, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenhai","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of TianQin Mission, TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics & School of Physics and Astronomy, Frontiers Science Center for TianQin, Gravitational Wave Research Center of CNSA, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shanqing","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MOE Key Laboratory of TianQin Mission, TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics & School of Physics and Astronomy, Frontiers Science Center for TianQin, Gravitational Wave Research Center of CNSA, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"094015","DOI":"10.1088\/0264-9381\/28\/9\/094015","article-title":"Measurement of Drag and Its Cancellation","volume":"28","author":"DeBra","year":"2011","journal-title":"Class. 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