LISA reaches a crucial milestone

The future gravitational-wave observatory in space completes a rigorous review

© NASA/JPL-Caltech/NASAEA/ESA/CXC/STScl/GSFCSVS/S.Barke (CC BY 4.0)

LISA Pathfinder - A Space Saga

Relive the groundbreaking technology demonstrator's mission milestones 5 years ago in a new Youtube mini-series released by the LISA Consortium.

LISA Pathfinder being encapsulated within the Vega rocket. © ESA–Manuel Pedoussaut

13th LISA Symposium talks are online

Find out about the exciting future of gravitational wave astrophysics in space!

Artist's impression of a LISA spacecraft. © AEI/MM/exozet

ESA ministers commit to biggest ever budget

The significant boost in funding for ESA’s world-class and inspirational science programme will allow the first gravitational wave detector in space, LISA, to fly alongside the black hole mission Athena.

ESA’s Council at Ministerial Level, Space19+, has concluded in Seville, Spain, with the endorsement of the most ambitious plan to date for the future of ESA and the whole European space sector. Image: ESA

Why we need a gravitational wave observatory in space

The science case for LISA

Merging Black Holes. Credit: T. Pyle/LIGO

The Gravitational Universe

Illuminating the dark universe with a new astronomy

Artist's impression of supermassive black hole. Credit: ESA/NASA, AVO project, Paolo Padovani.

LISA: A New Astronomy

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

Artist's impression of LISA satellite. Credit: AEI/MM/exozet

LISA Pathfinder tracera la voie vers la mission eLISA en testant, dans l’espace, le concept (les principes ?) de la détection d’ondes gravitationnelles.

L'endroit le plus silencieux du système solaire

LISA Pathfinder (LPF) placera deux masses d’épreuve en "chute libre" quasi parfaite, contrôlera et mesurera leur mouvement relatif avec une précision inégalée. Ceci sera effectué grâce à des thechnologies innovantes telles que des senseurs inertiels, un système de métrologie laser, un système à compensation de trainée et des micro-propulseurs délivrant des micro-Newton. L’ensemble de ces masses d’épreuve et leur environnement constitueront probablement un des endroits les plus "calmes" du système solaire.

Toutes ces technologies sont non seulement essentielles pour la mission eLISA, elles seront également à la base de toutes les missions qui voudront tester la théorie de la relativitié générale d’Einstein.

LPF sera lancé en novembre 2015.

The LISA Consortium

The LISA Consortium is committed to supporting the LISA mission. It includes all the main investigators involved in the highly successful LISA Pathfinder mission, a number of scientists who worked on the ground-based LIGO, Virgo, and GEO projects, and a number who worked on the Laser Ranging Interferometer on the GRACE Follow-On mission, thus making full use of the expertise accumulated so far. The LISA Consortium proposed and submitted the white paper The Gravitational Universe which was accepted for the ESA L3 slot.

If you are a scientist and wish to contribute to the LISA mission, use this scientist registration form.

A new frontier for exploring the physical universe

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Latest news and consortium activities

Date Title Summary
May 04, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder's scientific payload completely assembled The assembly of the LISA Pathfinder satellite is on track for the launch on top of a Vega...
Feb 11, 2016
 Gravitational waves observed for first time ever! LIGO Opens New Window on the Universe with Observation of Gravitational Waves from...
Apr 07, 2013
 Ready for launch: Heart of LISA Pathfinder space mission tested successfully The optical bench of the LISA Pathfinder (LPF) mission is currently being extensively...
Apr 09, 2021
 LISA Pathfinder - A Space Saga This series of short clips takes you back 5 years ago and lets you relive LISA Pathfinder...
Jun 25, 2013
 Latest LISA Pathfinder hardware delivery is 'Jewel in the Crown' A team of scientists from the University of Glasgow has successfully delivered a...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topic Imagesort descending Title
Mar 11, 2024
 Conferences LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration Meeting, March 11-14, 2024 at LSU
May 11, 2000
 Papers Fast and Accurate Computation Tools for Gravitational Waveforms from Binary Systems with any Orbital Eccentricity
Positions PhD Scholarships – Statistics and Gravitational Wave Science for LISA, New Zealand
Dec 15, 2023
 Positions PhD position in Gravitational Waves, Dark Matter, and Quantum Field Theory, London, UK
Jun 17, 2024
 Conferences IPTA Student Week 2024, June 17-21, University of Milano-Bicocca
Apr 24, 2014
 Papers Data Analysis Methods for Testing Alternative Theories of Gravity with LISA Pathfinder
Jun 17, 2024
 Conferences 27th Capra Meeting on Radiation Reaction in General Relativity, June 17-21 2024, Singapore
Mar 04, 2024
 Conferences Call for Registration: AHEAD 2020 Workshop on synergies between astrophysics and geoscience
Oct 11, 2016
 Papers Distinguishing between formation channels for binary black holes with LISA
Nov 21, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral position at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Jan 17, 2024
 Positions PostDoc in Gravitational Waves at Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Papers Perturbation method in the assessment of radiation reaction in the capture of stars by black holes
Positions PhD positions available at the UWA Gravitational-Wave Astronomy Group
Jan 05, 2024
 Positions Electrical Engineer or Physicist for electronic instrumentation for gravitational wave detectors and space missions at University of Hamburg
Jun 24, 2024
 Conferences IPTA Science Meeting 2024, June 24-31, Sexten, Italy

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