Abstract: High precision accelerometers are not only used to measure the non-gravitational forces such as thermal radiation pressure, solar radiation pressure and atmospheric drag, but also used to improve the microgravity level of the spacecraft as an inertial reference, namely to achieve the spacecraft's drag-free control. The basic operation principle of inertial sensor or accelerometer is introduced. The principles of several high-precision accelerometers are described, such as MEMS accelerometers based on the capacitive sensor, MEMS tunneling accelerometers, the superconducting accelerometer, the electrostatic accelerometer and inertial sensors with optical position detection and feedback control. The developmental trend and applications in the fields of the geoscience and fundamental physics of high-precision space-borne accelerometers are discussed. The main development trend is: high-precision and miniaturization MEMS accelerometers, weak stiffness and high-precision satellite-borne accelerometers and cold atom inertial sensors.