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
Feb 26, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder takes first steps on journey to space The LISA Pathfinder spacecraft has taken the first steps on the journey that will...
Jan 16, 2015
 ESA announces LISA Pathfinder launch for September 2015 In the first press release of 2015, ESA today announced the September launch window of...
May 04, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder's scientific payload completely assembled The assembly of the LISA Pathfinder satellite is on track for the launch on top of a Vega...
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...
Jul 17, 2015
 ESA: Inside LISA Pathfinder ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission is a technology demonstrator that will pave the way for...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topicsort descending Image Title
Sep 19, 2023
 Positions Northwestern-UChicago Brinson Fellowship 2024
Apr 05, 2023
 Positions Professor in Asteroseismology, Binary Evolution & Gravitational Wave Progenitors at KU Leuven
Sep 05, 2023
 Positions EXP Fellowships in Experimental Physics and Astrophysics at Caltech
Sep 12, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral Associate Positions in Theoretical Astronomy & Astrophysics at CIERA, Northwestern University
Jan 03, 2023
 Positions PhD positions in “Precision Interferometry and Fundamental Interactions” at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, AEI Hannover
Aug 22, 2023
 Positions Postdoc Position Theoretical Multi-Messenger Astrophysics at University of Hamburg
Sep 19, 2023
 Positions IAIFI Postdoctoral Fellowship (Physics and AI) at MIT
Apr 26, 2023
 Positions Flight Software Engineer (m/f/d) “Scientific Instrumentation for Space Applications” at AEI
Positions NASA POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP – APPLICATION DEADLINE MARCH/JULY/NOVEMBER 1
Jul 25, 2023
 Positions Post-doctoral Researcher Position at Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Sep 12, 2023
 Positions PhD position in Gravitational Wave Follow-up at LMU Munich
Jan 10, 2023
 Positions Scientist (m/f/d) for the leadership of a research group for the realization of a “Beyond LISA” mission
Sep 19, 2023
 Positions Postdoc position in computational relativistic astrophysics and numerical relativity at Caltech
May 03, 2023
 Positions Nominations sought for the position of Director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam
Positions Annual ESO Studentship Programme, Europe and Chile

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