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
Nov 27, 2013
 Selected: The Gravitational Universe - ESA decided on next Large Mission Concepts Selected: The Gravitational UniverseESA decided on next Large Mission Concepts The...
May 15, 2014
 LISA Pathfinder displayed for the first time at the ILA 2014 Direct detection of gravitational waves in space requires some completely new...
Nov 04, 2014
 Imaging System Investigations for LISA Members of Airbus DS GmbH, the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert...
Nov 11, 2014
 Inertial sensors of the LISA Pathfinder mission delivered Important step forward: CGS SpA deliveres theinertial sensors of the LISA Pathfinder...
Dec 10, 2014
 Preparing the team: Operations test The LISA Pathfinder science team, together with the Science and Technology Operations...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topicsort descending Image Title
Positions PhD Scholarships – Statistics and Gravitational Wave Science for LISA, New Zealand
Apr 05, 2023
 Positions Professor in Asteroseismology, Binary Evolution & Gravitational Wave Progenitors at KU Leuven
Oct 19, 2022
 Positions Postdoc at Precision Interferometry and Fundamental Interactions Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover
May 23, 2023
 Positions PhD on the Preparation and Exploitation of Euclid data for Gravitational Wave cosmology in Aix-Marseille & Rome
Jan 24, 2023
 Positions Open positions at the Max Plack Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Hannover, Germany in experimental and instrumental physics
May 23, 2023
 Positions Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral position in Gravitational Wave Physics at IFAE Barcelona
Apr 13, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral Research Associate at Fermilab, Computational Science and Artificial Intelligence Directorate
May 30, 2023
 Positions Faculty position at SINP, Kolkata (India) in the area of Multi-messenger Astrophysics and Cosmology
Dec 14, 2022
 Positions Postdoctoral position in theoretical stellar astrophysics at the FORTH Institute of Astrophysics
May 30, 2023
 Positions Research Scientist at CIT LIGO Laboratory
Positions NASA POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP – APPLICATION DEADLINE MARCH/JULY/NOVEMBER 1
Dec 20, 2022
 Positions PhD positions available at the UWA Gravitational-Wave Astronomy Group
Apr 26, 2023
 Positions Flight Software Engineer (m/f/d) “Scientific Instrumentation for Space Applications” at AEI
May 31, 2023
 Positions LISA Spacecraft Manager at ESTEC
Positions Annual ESO Studentship Programme, Europe and Chile

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