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
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...
Jun 07, 2016
 American Physical Society: Prototype Gravitational Wave Spacecraft sets new Free Fall Record Successful LISA Pathfinder mission paves the way for the LISA space-based, gravitational...
Nov 04, 2014
 Imaging System Investigations for LISA Members of Airbus DS GmbH, the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert...
Dec 03, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder launches successfully on 3 Dec 2015 LISA Pathfinder lifted off on Ariane Spaceflight VV06 atop the sixth Vega rocket on 3...
Jun 07, 2016
 European Space Agency: LISA Pathfinder exceeds expectations Press Release by the European Space Agency: ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission has...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topic Imagesort descending Title
Positions NASA POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP – APPLICATION DEADLINE MARCH/JULY/NOVEMBER 1
Nov 27, 2023
 Conferences 12th Australasian Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation (ACGRG), November 27 - December 1, 2023, Hobart
Nov 02, 2023
 Positions Faculty Positions in astronomy and gw-astronomy at Texas Tech Lubbock
Jun 13, 2005
 Papers Expected Coalescence Rate of Double Neutron Stars for Ground Based Interferometers
Jan 10, 2023
 Positions Scientist (m/f/d) for the leadership of a research group for the realization of a “Beyond LISA” mission
Oct 11, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral fellowship at the National University of Singapore
Nov 21, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral position at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Mar 27, 2014
 Papers Constraints on Einstein-Æther theory and Horava gravity from binary pulsar observations
Nov 27, 2023
 Conferences 32nd Workshop on General Relativity and Gravitation, November 27 - December 1, 2023 in Japan
Oct 24, 2023
 Positions Scheduler for LISA instruments at Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
Dec 01, 2023
 Positions PhD Studentships at the University of Birmingham
Aug 11, 2012
 Papers Breadboard model of the LISA phasemeter
Positions Annual ESO Studentship Programme, Europe and Chile
Sep 26, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral Fellowships in Gravitational Wave Physics and Multi-Messenger Astronomy at the Niels Bohr Institute
Nov 07, 2023
 Positions Assistant Professor in Time-Domain Astronomy at University of Florida

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