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

LPF Mission

Lancement prévu pour Decembre 2015

En route pour eLISA avec LISA Pathfinder

Vacuum integrity test of LPF. Credit: Astrium Ltd (an EADS company)

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

New movie: LISA, the first gravitational wave observatory in space

On the occasion of the 236th meeting of the American Astronomical Society the LISA Consortium launched a new movie about ESA´s LISA mission. LISA is a space mission led by ESA with contributions from NASA and many ESA member states. LISA will observe gravitational waves in space with three satellites connected by laser beams forming a constellation in a heliocentric orbit.

Latest news and consortium activities

Date Title Summary
Jun 30, 2014
 LISA Pathfinder on the cover of top popular German astronomy magazine
Jun 29, 2014
 How do Gravitational Waves look like? David Radice wins Giulio Rampa Thesis Prize The 2014 Giulio Rampa Thesis Prize for outstanding research in Mathematical or Numerical...
Sep 11, 2018
 LISA Pathfinder Mission Accomplished Gathering of LISA Pathfinder collaboration, Trento, September 11-13, 2018The LISA...
Nov 13, 2011
 LISA Pathfinder takes major step in hunt for gravitational waves Sensors destined for ESA's LISA Pathfinder mission in 2014 have exceeded expectations in...
May 24, 2012
 Getting ready for next time: European gravitational wave community strengthens space collaboration The LISA mission was reported to have been unanimously ranked first by ESA´s scientific...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topicsort descending Image Title
Sep 25, 2023
 Conferences Kavli-Villum Summer School on Gravitational Waves, 25-30 Sep 2023, Corfu, Greece
Jul 01, 2024
 Conferences New horizons for Psi school & workshop, July 1-5 2024, IST Lisbon
Jan 29, 2024
 Conferences Gravity and Cosmology 2024
Dec 06, 2023
 Conferences 10th International Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology: New Horizons and Singularities in Gravity, Dec 6-9 2023 in India
Oct 26, 2023
 Conferences ET-PP/ET-EIB workshop: Computing and Data Requirements, October 26-27 2023, Geneva
Sep 20, 2023
 Conferences Asymmetric Binaries meet Fundamental Astro-Physics, 20-22 September at GSSI in L’Aquila
Oct 01, 2023
 Conferences Astroinformatics 2023, October 1-6 2023, Naples
May 12, 2024
 Conferences GWADW 2024, May 12-18, Australia
Nov 13, 2023
 Conferences Fourth European Physical Society Conference on Gravitation: Black Holes, November 13-15, 2023, Valencia
Dec 11, 2023
 Conferences Future Perspectives on Primordial Black Holes, December 11-13 2023, Rome
Oct 04, 2023
 Conferences 2023 Lunar GW Workshop: Merging Lunar Exploration with Multi-Messenger Revolution, October 4-6 2023, Nashville
Aug 26, 2024
 Conferences Black Holes Inside and Out, August 26-30 2024, Copenhagen
Oct 13, 2023
 Conferences Windows on the Universe: Establishing the Infrastructure for a Collaborative Multi-messenger Ecosystem, October 13-18, 2023, Tucson
May 27, 2024
 Conferences GWPAW 2024 - Save the Date! May 27-31 in Tel Aviv
Nov 27, 2023
 Conferences 32nd Workshop on General Relativity and Gravitation, November 27 - December 1, 2023 in Japan

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External links