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
Sep 12, 2019
 2020 New Horizons in Physics Prize for Samaya Nissanke The LISA Consortium congratulates science team member Dr. Samaya Nissanke, assistant...
Dec 12, 2019
 NASA Award for AEI Researchers: US space agency honors German team’s contributions to laser instrument on board GRACE Follow-On A group of 47 researchers in Germany received a NASA award for their teamwork on the...
Mar 06, 2020
 European Astronomical Society: LISA Pathfinder Principal Investigator Stefano Vitale awarded the 2020 Tycho Brahe Medal The European Astronomical Society (EAS) awards the 2020 Tycho Brahe Medal to Prof....
Sep 01, 2020
 The 13th International LISA Symposium September 1-3, 2020 The 13th International LISA Symposium featured a program dedicated to gravitational wave...
Jun 03, 2020
 New movie about LISA, the first gravitational wave observatory in space On the occasion of the 236th meeting of the American Astronomical Society the LISA...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topicsort ascending Image Title
Apr 27, 2014
 Papers Environmental Effects for Gravitational-wave Astrophysics
Jan 18, 2013
 Papers On the complementarity of pulsar timing and space laser interferometry for the individual detection of supermassive black hole binaries
Jun 20, 2023
 Positions PhD Position in “Novel Phase Extraction Algorithms for Laser Interferometric Inertial Sensors based on Deep Frequency Modulation Interferometry” at AEI
Sep 07, 2023
 Positions Specialist staff member - expert mechanical design at University of Antwerp
Positions Fellowships at the Nottingham Centre of Gravity
Aug 16, 2023
 Positions ERC-funded postdoc position in computational relativistic astrophysics of neutron star mergers at the University of Jena
Sep 14, 2023
 Positions Open call for Postdoctoral Fellowships at ICE-CSIC in Barcelona
Feb 24, 2023
 Positions Flight Software Engineer (m/f/d) "Scientific Instrumentation for Space Applications"
Sep 26, 2023
 Positions 2-year postdoc position in numerical relativity in Milano-Bicocca
Jun 27, 2023
 Positions LIGO Laboratory Job Opening: Maintenance Mechanic at LHO
Sep 12, 2023
 Positions Professorship in GW science at the University of Louvain and the Royal Observatory of Belgium
Positions Positions in Quantum-Nanometrology within the QuantumFrontiers Excellence Cluster
Aug 16, 2023
 Positions Assistant Professor at Department of Physics, University of Chicago
Sep 19, 2023
 Positions "La Caixa" Foundation Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellowships
Sep 05, 2023
 Positions ESA Archival Research Visitor Programme

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