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
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....
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...
Nov 28, 2019
 ESA ministers commit to biggest ever budget ESA’s Council at Ministerial Level, Space19+, has concluded in Seville, Spain, with the...
Sep 12, 2019
 2020 New Horizons in Physics Prize for Samaya Nissanke The LISA Consortium congratulates science team member Dr. Samaya Nissanke, assistant...
Jul 26, 2019
 Dead Stars Found Whipping Around Each Other in Minutes Two dead stars have been spotted whipping around each other every seven minutes. The rare...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topic Image Title
Dec 11, 2023
 Conferences Future Perspectives on Primordial Black Holes, December 11-13 2023, Rome
Dec 11, 2023
 Conferences 32nd Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, December 11-15 2023 in Shanghai
Dec 08, 2023
 Positions Research Associate Engineering (m/f/x) - mechanical engineering, technical mechanics or related subjects
Dec 08, 2023
 Positions 2 years postdoctoral position at INAF - Astronomical Observatory of Rome
Dec 08, 2023
 Positions Research Associate Electronics (m/f/x) - electronics, electrical engineering, or related subjects
Dec 08, 2023
 Positions Research Associate Optics (m/f/x) - optical technologies, photonics, physics, astrophysics or related subjects
Dec 07, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral opportunities at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC & IEEC) in Barcelona
Dec 07, 2023
 Positions PhD fellowships within the Framework of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation Doctoral INPhINIT
Dec 07, 2023
 Positions Research Associate/Fellow in Particle Cosmology at University of Nottingham
Dec 06, 2023
 Conferences 10th International Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology: New Horizons and Singularities in Gravity, Dec 6-9 2023 in India
Dec 06, 2023
 Conferences 3rd Einstein Telescope Site Preparation Board Workshop, December 6-7 2023 in Amsterdam
Dec 05, 2023
 Positions Career Opportunity at IAAT University of Tübingen
Dec 04, 2023
 Conferences Ultra-high frequency gravitational waves: where to next? Dezember 4-8 at CERN
Dec 02, 2023
 Conferences Intermediate-Mass Black Holes: The dawn of a revolutionary era, December 2-5 2023, San Pedro, Belize
Dec 01, 2023
 Positions PhD Studentships at the University of Birmingham

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