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
Apr 18, 2016
 No showstoppers: GOAT reports on space-based gravitational wave observatory In the final report now delivered to ESA, the Gravitational Observatory Advisory Team...
May 25, 2016
 First LPF results will be presented on June 7th in Madrid and Hannover First results from ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission, a technology demonstrator for the...
Jun 07, 2016
 Results show LISA Pathfinder exceeds expectations The ESA satellite mission LISA Pathfinder has successfully demonstrated the technology...
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...
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 topicsort descending Image Title
Apr 28, 2014
 Papers Space-borne Gravitational Wave Observatories
May 04, 2011
 Papers Fourth order indirect integration method for black hole perturbations: even modes
Sep 14, 2014
 Papers From Boltzmann equations to steady wall velocities
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
Sep 26, 2016
 Papers The effect of matter structure on the gravitational waveform
Jan 06, 2012
 Papers LISA: Astrophysics and cosmology in the millihertz regime
May 15, 2014
 Papers Self-force driven motion in curved spacetimes
Oct 12, 2016
 Papers Gravitational waves at interferometer scales and primordial black holes in axion inflation
May 03, 2010
 Papers Free fall and self-force: an historical perspective
Jul 20, 2014
 Papers A fully relativistic radial fall
Nov 17, 2016
 Papers A Second Higgs Doublet in the Early Universe: Baryogenesis and Gravitational Waves
May 11, 2000
 Papers Fast and Accurate Computation Tools for Gravitational Waveforms from Binary Systems with any Orbital Eccentricity
Apr 24, 2014
 Papers Data Analysis Methods for Testing Alternative Theories of Gravity with LISA Pathfinder
Oct 11, 2016
 Papers Distinguishing between formation channels for binary black holes with LISA

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