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 11, 2014
 Inertial sensors of the LISA Pathfinder mission delivered Important step forward: CGS SpA deliveres theinertial sensors of the LISA Pathfinder...
Jun 20, 2017
 Gravitational Wave mission selected, planet-hunting mission moves forward The LISA trio of satellites to detect gravitational waves from space has been selected...
Jun 23, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder: Science payload completed and integrated into the satellite Next steps: Shipment to Kourou and launch in autumn After more than 10 years of intense...
Oct 08, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder arrives at Launch Site in Kourou, French Guiana LPF arrives safely at the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana.
Jan 13, 2016
 Laser light for LISA Pathfinder Since December 3, 2015, LISA Pathfinder is in space and still on the way to its target...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topic Imagesort descending Title
Oct 25, 2005
 Papers Expected coalescence rates of NS-NS binaries for laser beam interferometers
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
Oct 12, 2023
 Positions PTA postdoctoral position at Vanderbilt University
Nov 21, 2023
 Positions Project Manager (m/f/d) for Space Department at AEI Hannover
Apr 29, 2014
 Papers Strong Binary Pulsar Constraints on Lorentz Violation in Gravity
Dec 11, 2023
 Conferences 32nd Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, December 11-15 2023 in Shanghai
Oct 24, 2023
 Positions Risk Manager for LISA Instruments at Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
Jan 28, 2024
 Conferences Nordic Winter School on Multimessenger Astrophysics, January 28 - February 2, 2024, Skeikampen, Norway
Papers LISA Brown Bag & GW Notes
Positions New Gravitational Wave Physics MSc at Cardiff University
Jul 08, 2024
 Conferences LISA Symposium July 8-12, 2024, Dublin, Ireland
Nov 07, 2023
 Positions Postdoc position at UTRGV in Brownsville
Mar 07, 2011
 Papers A source-free integration method for black hole perturbations and self-force computation: Radial fall
Dec 02, 2023
 Conferences Intermediate-Mass Black Holes: The dawn of a revolutionary era, December 2-5 2023, San Pedro, Belize
Oct 13, 2023
 Positions Postdoc in astroparticle physics at SISSA in Trieste

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